


Circuit

by greenalms



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Action/Adventure, Each school has two agents, Electrocution, Friends to Lovers, Gun Violence, M/M, Mental Health Issues, The Organization is Very Loosely based on S.H.I.E.L.D, Tsukki doesn't want Yamaguchi involved in his work life, chase scene, marvel AU, sort of, superhero au, very loosely
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-30
Updated: 2017-10-17
Packaged: 2018-05-04 03:31:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 35,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5318795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greenalms/pseuds/greenalms
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One could, given enough mental gymnastics, say that Tsukishima Kei was born into the Organization. The Tsukishima family has been active in the Miyagi prefecture for years, and now that Kei is old enough, he is one of two Juniors agents inside Karasuno high school. His mission is pretty simple: Keep an eye on Yamaguchi Tadashi, a known Enhanced that also goes to Karasuno, and just happens to be Kei's best friend. It's not too hard. Yamaguchi doesn't even know that he's Enhanced. And Kei fully intends to keep things that way, despite what the Organization thinks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

A couple things changed for Kei when he turned eight. For one, he started getting taller than most of the other boys in his class, which made him stand out far more than he cared to. For another, he noticed Akiteru’s voice getting lower. Not in the sense of getting deeper, which it had as a result of Akiteru’s growing older – this was something he would learn happened to all boys later on – but in the sense that Akiteru would start whispering around him the same way his parents would. Those low, hushed, desperate tones that Kei knew meant the topic of discussion was one he wasn’t supposed to know about. Things he was too young for that he ended up finding out about anyway, considering Akiteru was terrible at keeping his bedroom door shut.

When he turned eight, Kei decided that he was proud of his family business. It was like belonging to a family of superheroes, except far cooler. Akiteru joined his parents in the Miyagi branch of the Organization right when he entered high school in their juniors department, and Kei always watched with awe when Akiteru came home from a mission, covered in leftover sweat from volleyball practice, dark circles under his eyes, and grit and blood on his cheeks. And then he’d head up to his room and sit on the floor to do his homework. It was no surprise that Akiteru didn’t have much time for him anymore. Kei respected that about him. In fact, he resolved to do the same thing when he turned fifteen. Balancing domesticity and agency life was something the Tsukishima family did best, after all.

A few months after Kei turned eight, he confronted his parents about the Organization. His father had laughed and called him a “natural.” Kei had beamed proudly. They didn’t tell him everything, of course – this was something he would learn later on that he would come to resent – but they told him the purpose of the Tsukishima family. The Tsukishima family were observers. The Tsukishima family helped to protect Japan. The Tsukishima family saved lives. Akiteru stopped lowering his voice after that, shooting a knowing grin his way when he spoke up to the glaring disapproval of their mother.

Two other important things happened after Kei turned eight: one was that he stopped being afraid of thunderstorms. The other was that his eyes changed color. The two were directly related, and both would be forever remembered to Kei as inconsequential, monumentally insignificant factoids that affected his life forever. And that was because both were the result of meeting and befriending Yamaguchi Tadashi.

The day had begun just like any other day: Kei had gotten up and greeted Akiteru’s empty bedroom, dressed himself, had oatmeal and toast made by his mother for breakfast (which he finished only because his mother threatened him), and began heading to school at the normal time. Akiteru had recently bought him a pair of headphones, which he utilized to their fullest potential when he fell into a mood and didn’t want to deal with people. They were noise-cancelling and just one size too big for his ears and he loved them. Kei had begun to develop a reputation at school for being caustic and mean. The other kids were sometimes intimidated by his height, and if he said the right combination of words, he could make sure they never came near him again. Kei regarded this as his superpower, a direct result of coming from a family of “superheroes,” and used it frequently. His parents didn’t seem to mind his lack of friends. Kei slipped the headphones on, and almost immediately slipped them back off when movement to the left caught his eye.

He barely recognized them. They were clearly from his school since they wore the same uniform, and he thought maybe one of them was in his class. They were chasing after a smaller boy and laughing at him. Kei felt a scowl morphing onto his face as he slowly approached, figuring he’d say something to scare them off and maybe tell a teacher later. It fit in with the Tsukishima family duty. As he drew close, the bullies threw their backpacks at the smaller boy, and said something about his freckles. They stopped and turned when they noticed him. A grin slid onto his face almost too naturally. He said the first thing that came to mind.

“Lame.”

It worked, though not necessarily to the extent Kei would have hoped. The bullies hesitated a second before the one ran up to him shouting that it was him that was the lame one, stupid four-eyes. Kei had laughed at that, sneering down at them as they grabbed their bags and ran away. The smile dissipated instantly as they left the small boy. Kei simply sighed and turned away, not really sparing the boy an extra glance. He could swear that he felt his chocolate eyes boring holes in the back of his head as he walked away, however, and somewhere in the back of his mind, he felt a pang of regret.

To be honest, the rest of the school day after that was pretty uneventful. Kei was an expert at ignoring the cacophonous din of his classmates, throwing his headphones on during break and slipping into the relaxing thrumming of the beat in his head. He ate his bento in peace, and took a brief walk around the halls to stretch out his legs, only barely aware of the meek, timid stare following him. His mind was preoccupied with much more important things, like developing his spike to Akiteru’s standard. Akiteru had asked him not to come watch his high school games, and was always preoccupied with his classes and practice, not to mention the Organization.

He toyed with the watch Akiteru had made during afternoon classes, finding the chain interesting for his fidgeting fingers, and the shifting colors entertainment for his eyes. Akiteru had been showing an interest in engineering, tinkering with various items in his room. He had set himself on fire more than once, adding burns to the list of things he frequently came home with. His first ‘invention’ was actually more of a fancy gift, given as an apology for being gone all the time. It had the appearance of a glass tube filled with mercury that changed color according to the temperature and shape according to the time. When asked the point of it, Akiteru had said that it was ‘just something nice.’ Kei vowed never to take it off. It was hovering between pink and yellow, meaning it was mild out for late November. He could probably practice spiking outside in the yard for a little bit before it got dark. The meek stare lingered unobtrusively on his shoulders.

After school let out, and Kei finished his chores, he swung his bag over his shoulder, slid his headphones over his ears, and walked home. His eyes flicked over to the spot where he’d found those guys from his school picking on the freckled kid. The entrance to the local park, with its large iron gate that was hardly ever closed properly at night and its large playground that had been vandalized more than once as a result of the poorly kept gate. There was a large open field, lined with Sakura saplings and peppered with maple groves that cast pleasant shadows over the sidewalk and filled the air with sweet perfume when they all bloomed in the springtime. Kei glanced at the bare branches and suddenly overcast skies and sighed, inhaling thick petrichor. He turned up the volume on his music player as he began the long walk home, the electronic buzz drowning out the whisper of the cold wind that tossed the branches above. The back of his mind recognized that the meek stare had stopped following him after that.

He managed to get home with enough daylight left for some spiking practice, cut short by raindrops hitting his cheeks. He frowned up at the mutinous sky that had been so clear and bright just that morning, and continued spiking through the growing downpour until his mother shrieked out the window to come in before he caught a cold.

It darkened quickly after that, more quickly than Kei would have considered normal. Akiteru came home just as Kei was being sent to bed, saying something about practice being cut short due to the ‘freak storm’ that was brewing outside. Just as he spoke, a rumble of thunder rolled through the air, sending shivers down Kei’s spine. He never liked thunderstorms. They were too loud, and sometimes sent branches hurtling at his window, once hard enough to break the glass in the pane. And thunder meant lightning, which he had seen strike a power transformer on the side of the street once before. The flash had been enormous, the explosion of sound deafening. The transformer had sparked blue twice before exploding, sending smoke from the curdling machine that left an acrid, metallic flavor in his throat and angry purple flames down the street, knocking out the power for a whole day.

“Kei-chan? Aren’t you heading to bed?” his mother asked. A flash outside, followed by the abrasive noise caused Kei to jump on the stairs, effectively giving his mother her answer. She ushered him up the stairs and put him to bed with the promise of hot chocolate if he woke up during the storm. Kei tried to steady his breathing and relax through the growing storm, the flashes and booms, though infrequent, began coming louder as the rain pattered against the glass. The trees outside flailed frantically in the wind, as if crying out for someone to keep their limbs from being torn from them and mercilessly tossed away.

Kei practiced breathing for a long time. Long enough for his mother and brother to each come check on him once. It was after he’d finally relaxed enough to think about sleep when it happened. A particularly close explosion sent Kei rocketing out of bed, forehead drenched in cold sweat. Grabbing his glasses from the bedside table, Kei leaped from his bedroom, hoping the offer of hot chocolate still stood. As he made his way down the stairs, he heard the low voices talking.

“Yes, I understand, Shimizu-san,” his father was saying. “We’re gearing up now.”  
“Is there any lead on a location?” his mother asked, the sound of fabric being pulled up arms and items clipped to belts accentuating the sternness in her voice. Kei’s heart fluttered. This was a call from the Organization!

“Not any closer than our area,” his father responded hurriedly. “Yes, Shimizu-san, we’re heading out now. I understand. Thank you.”  
“Is it anything I can help with?” Akiteru asked.  
“I don’t think so,” his father answered. “There’s an Enhanced in the area. We don’t have a specific location. We’ll have to go out looking.”  
“You stay here and keep an eye on your brother,” his mother ordered. “You know he dislikes thunder. You’ll need to be here for him if he wakes up.”  
“Alright,” Akiteru agreed. “I’ll keep eyes on my monitors too. If I see anything strange, I’ll call you.”

His parents left, leaving Kei frozen on the lowest step, hidden from his brother’s view. An… Enhanced? Kei had heard the term before from eavesdropping, but never fully understood it. From what his parents had made it sound like, they were sort of like superheroes too, only scarier. Enhanced, unlike his family, actually had superpowers. _They’re going to find an Enhanced!_ Kei thought. A smile broke across his face, despite the thunder. A nervous coil wound in his abdomen. He wanted to help, and here was his chance. All he had to do was slip out the door before Akiteru noticed. Wouldn’t his parents be surprised! His father would laugh and call him a “natural” again. Maybe he would be allowed to join the Organization early.

The sound of Akiteru’s feet shuffling towards the sitting room was all he needed. Kei pounced on his jacket, sliding it on as silently as possible. He slipped his shoes over his socked feet, and took a deep breath, once again trying to steady his syncopated heartbeat. He pulled the door open and shut it behind him, bolting from the threshold hopefully before Akiteru realized where the noise had come from.

It was pouring rain, and the wind was howling in his ears. Kei pulled his hood over his head, and glanced at Akiteru’s watch, noting the icy blue color it radiated. He ran down the street, looking around for any sign of an Enhanced. There was nothing, of course. Nobody rational would be out in the rain this late at night. Kei wandered the streets, the adrenalin of his initial escape wearing off quickly in the chill of the storm. The rumbles of thunder ricocheted off the thick black clouds and reverberated against Kei’s spine. Forks of electric energy illuminated the sky in quick bursts, stretching out overhead like mangled fingers reaching down for him; getting closer with each second, striving for his skin, falling short every time. The icy rain pelted against his hood, soaking through the shoulders of his jacket. Kei shivered as he roamed the street corners. His glasses were dripping on his cheeks, making it hard to focus. Why was he out here again, missing out on hot chocolate and Akiteru time?

_Because I’m a Tsukishima too!_

He yelped loudly as another bolt ruptured the sky, exploding as it made its connection with the earth. How was he supposed to find the Enhanced? He had no idea what an Enhanced looked like, much less where to find one. Kei looked to the open sky and pouted. If only there wasn’t this storm messing with the timing of his heart and the pace of his breathing as if it were some percussionist beating against his stretched-canvas chest, frightening him out of his thoughts. He was anxious enough about finding an Enhanced with superpowers all on his own.

Kei’s train of thought came skidding to a halt. He glanced at the sky again, this time with eyes wide, and his grin returning. The Enhanced were feared for a reason, and thunderstorms were the scariest things Kei could think of. In his mind, the connection was inevitable.

_I just need to find the middle of the storm,_ Kei thought. _The Enhanced will be where the storm is strongest._

He took several deep breaths, the next thunderclap syncing with his heartbeat instead of interrupting it. The wind seemed to change direction, turning his head to the right. The next mangled finger in the sky stretched down that road. Kei steeled himself, and started running. He ran for what seemed like hours, sloshing through puddles and leaping over torn branches, letting mangled fingers and explosions now joined by the quiver of the earth receiving them guide him. He followed down dark alleys, their street lamps having been killed hours ago. The back part of his mind found a familiar route to follow. The anticipation caused his heartbeat to thrash against his ribcage, empowered by the militant thunder, and his grin widened as he felt the air charge with static. He was getting close.

Kei stopped at the next street crossing, looking up at where the storm had led him. It was the heavy iron gate of the park, slick with rainwater. Another mangled hand instantly reached down from the sky, slashing at the earth not a kilometer away. The ground ruptured, and Kei was blasted off his feet. Kei froze to the ground, stupefied by the sight. He had never known lightning could be so forceful. Perhaps he shouldn’t go in…

A wailing sound changed his mind. Kei straightened up and listened through the wind and thunder. The cries fractured the rickety groan of the maple branches, the howl of the wind. There were no animals or birds in sight, as far as he could tell. Kei sucked in a breath. _There’s somebody in there,_ he thought. Slowly, Kei pushed himself unsteadily to his feet. He approached the iron gate and pushed lightly. It swung open with a strangled creak.

The static tincture in the air was suffocating. Kei could feel the fine hair on the back of his neck reaching for it. The warning he’d heard on television about lightning and hair flashed through his mind. Kei swallowed painfully, as the possibility seemed inevitable now, almost proven by the hands that seemed to rip down every second, clawing at treetops and utility poles. Kei looked down at the ground and practically saw the grass under his feet glowing with their power. Deciding it would be in his best interest to move more carefully, Kei slowed his pace. The constant crashing overhead threw his heartbeat out of synch once again, and his breath came in far more ragged than he would care to admit.

The wailing sound grew louder, prompting Kei forward. He pulled his hood closer around his face, shivering from the cold that had sunk under his skin through the soaked cloth on his back. The better part of him was screaming that this was a mistake; that he should turn around and go back to Akiteru. Another lightning bolt struck the open field and lingered far longer than Kei deemed necessary, prompting immediate investigation. _No! Go back to Akiteru! You’re going to stick out in the field and die!_

Kei turned the corner around the giant slide. He suddenly felt the prickle of static course through him, and locked eyes with electric blue. With a fearful gasp, he dove under the slide and covered his ears as ions met in mid-air, lighting up the sky and causing the small boy standing there to scream in agony over the explosion of thunder. Kei opened his eyes and shuddered, feeling the power surge through the ground as the boy choked on his own scream, only going quiet as the power died out. His breath came in short and rigid. Sensing a split second of quiet, Kei chanced a look. _Go back to Akiteru **right now!**_

Kei’s heart stopped just in time for another thunderbolt to strike, igniting the freckles all over his body and charging his tears with sparks. He whimpered more pathetically than he had when Kei had seen him this morning, and when the bolt finally dissipated, crackles of electricity jumped from one dark blotch on his skin to the next. The unnatural glow in his eyes chilled Kei’s core faster than the rain ever could. The boy slumped over, staggering over towards the metal bars lining the playground staircase. As soon as he touched them, electricity coursed through him, causing yet another lightning bolt to strike him down from the heavens.

Kei scrambled away, hiding further behind the slide, shaking. His eyes were blown wide. Was he the Enhanced? Shooting lightning bolts out of his body? _What do I do? I found him, but there’s nobody else around! I don’t even have a cell phone to call mom!_

The boy was crying, and even his tears seemed to send power surges through the ground. He let out another pathetic whine, trying to find some way to sit down without getting shocked. _I need to get out of here. I need to get back to Akiteru right now! If he sees me he might panic and shock me and then I’ll **die!**_

Kei shifted his weight, ready to run away. His entire thought process shifted from being here with the Enhanced, to running straight back in the direction he’d come from. Screw the thunderstorm. Screw being a Tsukishima! He wanted to be back in his house with Akiteru instead of suffocating on static-filled air that made his hair stand up, drenched through his clothes and shivering, trapped under a playscape and too paralyzed by fear to move away from someone that could very easily kill him.

_“M-mo oom!”_ the boy croaked. _“I h-urt!”_

Kei’s stomach clenched, his eyes flicked back to the lightning-boy.

_“It… hurts…”_

His smaller body spasmed with the electricity pulsing through it. He could barely take a step without stumbling and causing another bolt of lightning to strike. The sounds falling from his cracked lips made Kei’s chest ache, and his stomach do flips. Kei wiped his glasses off with his sleeve, and suddenly noticed the cuts and bruises all over him. Almost his entire left side and a part of his chest was crusted over with dried blood. Kei felt dry heaves coming. He clutched at his sides.

_“He-elp, I hurt!”_ he sobbed. _“Make it... stop, please!”_

Thunder exploded directly overhead. The boy’s body convulsed. He was going to get shocked again. Kei didn’t think he could bear to hear another strangled sob.

_Screw thunderstorms._

Kei leaped out from behind the slide and into view. The boy’s glowing, half-lidded, electric blue eyes locked onto his. His hand reached out. Moving on instinct alone, Kei leaped forward and grabbed the boy, feeling his weight collapse against him as his right hand met his left. He felt something hard crunch between their sealed palms.

There was a flash, an explosion, then pain shooting up his right arm, his veins illuminating under his skin where the energy coursed through him, the sight of lightning curling on the smaller boy’s back, flickering and fluttering like feathers in the wind. The feeling of falling backwards. Then nothing.

When he woke the next day in the hospital, surrounded by his hysterical family (“Don’t ever sneak out of the house like that _again!_  
” “Kei-chan, we were so worried!” “I nearly had a heart attack when I saw you were gone!”), Tsukishima Kei learned that two things had occurred. One, he found that he was no longer frightened by the idea of thunderstorms. Two, the color of his eyes had turned from dark brown like the rest of the Tsukishima family, to a vibrant, brilliant gold.

The day after that, as he was walking into the club gym, he was confronted by the small freckled boy who called himself Yamaguchi Tadashi, smiling meekly under his golden stare and fidgeting in place as if he had absolutely no memories of what had occurred in the park. Yamaguchi laughed nervously. His chocolate brown eyes looked everywhere except Kei’s general direction. He immediately bowed deeply, and struck up a conversation about volleyball, praising Akiteru. Kei felt his cheeks heating.

“What’s your name?”  
“Tsukishima Kei.”  
“Okay. Nice to meet you, Tsukki!”

And just like that, everything had changed.


	2. Static

There were a few things Kei hated about these conference rooms. For one, the chairs sucked. Kei leaned back in his chosen seat, resting his head against the stiff cushioning and allowing his restless legs to swivel the chair back and forth. The joint squeaked with each rotation, voicing its need for lubricant and grating down his very last nerve. For another, it was always the wrong temperature for the time of year. He glanced at the thermal watch on his wrist, the mercury inside a light cyan in stark contrast to the slip of carmine on the wall. Kei glared at the thermometer, and how its color betrayed the just-slightly-too-cold-for-the-season air in the room. _’Just a minute,’ they said. How long has it been?_ Nothing changed in this Organization.

The chair joint creaked again as Kei shifted in the just-too-stiff cushion. Just when he felt his increasingly dark dislike of these conference rooms grow to the point of him considering walking out, the door opened. Kei looked up to a relatively unassuming looking Junior agent with silvery blond hair, a mole under deceivingly warm brown eyes, and an even warmer smile. Kei felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle with imagined static as he met the warmth with ice.

“Tsukishima Kei?” the boy asked. Kei gave the slightest tip of his head in acknowledgement. “Good to meet you! I’m Sugawara Koushi, one of the agents at Karasuno High School.” Sugawara wasted no time in walking casually up to him and extending his hand forcefully into Kei’s personal space. Kei gingerly reached up and pinched his outstretched hand, giving it a slight waver. Sugawara grinned brightly and took a seat beside him.

“Kiyoko-san will be joining us in a bit. You’ve met her before, right?” Sugawara was asking. “She mentioned being familiar with you.”  
“We’ve met,” Kei confirmed flatly, his golden eyes hardening behind the frames covering his face. If Sugawara picked up on the coolness of his voice, his bright smile kept it well-hidden. Instead he pulled out a series of forms, including, but not limited to, his application.

“So, Tsukishima, that’s a pretty well-known name here. Your whole family is involved in the Organization, right? What made you decide to affiliate with Karasuno?”

Kei trained his gaze on a particularly uninteresting knot in the wood of the table. His fingers began to itch with stillness, and he intertwined the first few together. His mind instantly traveled to soft brown hair and a sunny smile peppered with freckles. 

“It was my brother’s school,” he lied. Sugawara quirked an eyebrow at him before shifting through his stack of papers, likely his records from his trainings, exams, and interviews that probably all said the same thing. Intelligent, they called him, clever, observant, but also closed off and not good with people.  
“Well, regardless of your reason, I think you’ll be welcomed,” Sugawara was saying. “Kiyoko-san seemed to like the idea of you being around, and we need more agents at the school, anyway, considering she and I are both third-years already.”

Kei stiffened instantly, his golden eyes darting to Sugawara. Recruitment was nowhere near high on his to-do list, and if Shimizu thought she was being clever with this…

“So, what kind of work are you hoping to do? I can tell you now, our town isn’t very exciting, so if you’re hoping to catch a lot of criminals, you’re probably not going to be that interested. We do a lot of research at Karasuno. Intelligence-gathering, experimentation, engineering, and we have the medical department close if you want to train in that field…”

“I’m sure Tsukishima-kun is much more interested in holding his current position, yes?” came a soft voice from the door. Kei narrowed his eyes at the young woman. Despite the soft curves of her cheeks, the way her silky black hair cascaded from the crown of her head, the demure downshift in her gaze, Kei frowned, a sour taste forming in the back of his throat. He shoved his hands deep into his pockets, and imagined the headphones around his neck materializing over his ears.  
Sugawara stood abruptly, smiling at the newcomer and pulling out a seat for her.

“Kiyoko-san! Are you already finished speaking with your father?”  
“Yes, he was aware that we were conducting interviews today, and kept things concise,” she replied, shifting her gaze to Kei. Her reserved expression didn’t waver, but Kei could swear he saw her eyes narrow ever so slightly. Sugawara’s smile wavered slightly as he glanced between them, resuming his seat and moving just noticeably closer to his female partner. 

“Tsukishima-kun, it’s good to see you again,” Shimizu greeted. Kei gave a slight nod in her direction, if only out of politeness. “I’m very glad to hear that you’ve considered Karasuno as your placement.”  
“It was my brother’s school,” Kei repeated dryly. Shimizu nodded.  
“So you said,” she sighed. “I’m also very curious to ask. You didn’t select any placements _other_ than Karasuno. Is there a reason why?”

Kei frowned and pointedly looked away.  
“No.”

“Lying to me will not get you far, Tsukishima-kun, even if it is one of your more refined skills,” Shimizu replied, picking up a pen and scribbling something on his application that only Sugawara could see. Kei fought to keep the underlying grimace and barely-contained snarl off his face. Sugawara glanced at her note and gave a chuckle.

“Is that so? That’s a pretty useful thing!” he snickered. “You probably have great intuition for who to trust.”  
“I like to think I do,” Kei replied shortly, inhaling what felt like ice through his nose. Kiyoko was rifling through his papers.

“You scored ‘average’ on the physical examination again, I see,” she stated, eyeing him.  
“I did.”  
“You and I both know that you are hardly an ‘average’ type of person, Tsukishima-kun.”  
“I don’t know, my physical abilities have been consistently limited,” Kei retorted loudly, shrugging his shoulders. He didn’t bother to mask his sarcastic tone. “I’m still growing after all. My muscles aren’t fully developed, and I’m still getting taller.”

Sugawara snorted, and pressed a hand over his mouth to suppress the giggles he was clearly struggling with. Shimizu glanced at him, and offered a small smile of her own. She placed the examination papers down and closed his file, resting her chin on her folded hands.

“So, tell me, how is Yamaguchi-kun these days?”

Kei stiffened, feeling sweat freeze on the back of his neck from the chilled air. Sugawara looked up at the vent above them, and rubbed the sleeves of his uniform jacket. _Calm down,_ Kei told himself, inhaling ice again. 

“He hasn’t developed yet, if that’s what you’re wondering,” he answered. Sugawara stopped shivering long enough to straighten himself.  
“Yamaguchi…? Is that the Enhanced you were telling me about, Kiyoko-san?”  
“Yes. Suga, will you please open the window? It’s unbearably cold in here, and I believe it’s rather mild today.”

Sugawara, who apparently allowed his colleagues to call him by a nickname, immediately got up from his seat to open the window. Kei felt his stomach knot itself over as he watched the older boy’s cheerful obedience. He resigned to a single deep breath through the nose, eyeing Shimizu sideways as he did. Once, Sugawara was seated again, the dark-haired girl looked up, composed as ever.

“That’s a shame about, Yamaguchi-kun,” she continued, “It would be nice to have another first-year agent in at Karasuno.”  
“I’ve already told you, I’m not going to do that,” Kei interjected. “He doesn’t need to know. I do just fine on my own.”  
“I know,” Shimizu replied. “And while I can’t begin to understand your reasons, you’ve remained stubborn about this for the last three years.”  
“Hold on,” Sugawara interrupted. “Are you saying that Tsukishima here has been covering an Enhanced for the Organization as a junior high student? Isn’t that against the rules?”  
"Yes," Kei replied coolly."  
“There was an exception made in this case,” Shimizu explained, her dark eyes flashing in a prompt for him to continue. Kei sighed and straightened up, removed his hands from his pockets, and turned to face the older boy.

“I was the one that discovered Yamaguchi in the park when we were kids,” he stated. “We’ve been best friends ever since. Since my whole family is involved with the Organization, Shimizu-san felt it would be better to just have me and my parents keep an eye on him instead of assigning an extra agent with no rapport. Once we reached junior high, my parents filed a report stating that I was old enough to do it myself.”  
Sugawara – _’Suga,’_ Kei thought. _I might as well, if he feels comfortable enough already to drop honorifics_ – smiled brightly, not quite meeting his eyes, nodding his approval. He tapped his cheek with one finger, then turned and spoke.

“I like it. A dynamic like that will be good for the team. And it’ll make Daichi happy, too!”  
Kei blinked, breaking his rehearsed affect. “Daichi?”  
“Sawamura Daichi,” Suga explained. “I noticed that you played volleyball in junior high. Daichi is the current captain of Karasuno’s team. I happen to be the vice-captain and the official setter, and Kiyoko-san is our manager! Do you intend to join the team? What position do you play? Does Yamaguchi-kun play too?”  
Shimizu rolled her eyes and huffed quietly, a small smile playing across her lips. Kei blinked repeatedly, eyes wide. Suga had leaned in slightly during his excitable line of questioning, causing Kei to lean backward in his chair the equivalent amount.  
“I suppose,” he answered, earning another wide smile from the older boy. Kei averted his eyes. “Yamaguchi and I are both middle blockers, though he’s about ten centimeters smaller…”  
“Hmmm, that’s still a good height! And you’re exceptionally tall to make up for it, so there shouldn’t be too many problems working the two of you in.”

“Suga, you should be saving these questions for practice,” Shimizu scolded lightly, scooping up Kei’s file and examination forms. She stood up and walked across the room, shutting the window and rubbing her bare, goosebump-peppered forearms. Suga laughed, his voice ringing like summer chimes as he stood to follow his partner.  
“Sorry! It’s true though, I shouldn’t get too worked up. Especially since we’ll have to pretend not to know each other on the first day!”  
“Does this mean I will be accepted as a Karasuno placement for the Organization?” Kei inquired. Shimizu nodded.  
“It would be counter-productive not to,” she replied. “Since Yamaguchi-kun will also be attending the school.”  
“I’m glad that I am such a valuable asset,” Kei grumbled, shoving his hands back into his jacket pockets. “And I’m still not recruiting him for you.”  
“I know,” Shimizu sighed pulling open the conference room door and letting Suga by her. Suga paused, quirking a brow and letting his smile falter. Shimizu glanced back at him, boring into his golden eyes for the second time this meeting.

“Tsukishima-kun,” she said softly, “I know you want to protect him, but you know as well as I do that his powers won’t remain dormant forever. His days as a civilian are numbered, and we have the ability to help him.”  
“I think that decision is up to him,” Kei replied, lacing his voice with the ice-filled air. “He doesn’t have to be a hero, and I won’t shove the Organization’s agenda down his throat. He’s not your puppet.”  
“No, he isn’t, but Enhanced don’t have many options. Once they develop, they attract trouble like magnets. It will be nearly impossible for him to have a normal life, no matter how hard you try to give him one.”

Kei frowned, his hands clenching into fists in his pockets. The air in the room instantly dropped to bitter. 

“You don’t know that,” he bit out. Shimizu’s eyes narrowed slightly. She sighed and turned around fully, one hand on the door handle.  
“True, but as you said, it’s up to him. What if he chooses this life? What will you do then?” she challenged. 

Kei glared at her, lips pulled thin, shoulders tensed. Shimizu paused for only a moment before giving him a polite nod and turning right down the hall. Suga shifted his stare between her and Kei, hesitating only long enough to fixate Kei with a stiff jaw and wavering eyes that forced him to suppress the urge to squirm before following his partner off. 

Kei let his breath out ragged, kicking the chair back as he got to his feet. His mind raced ahead of him, conjuring all of the unspoken retaliations he had resigned, and plastering graffiti labels to the cement wall he’d built around himself. He seethed as he came to the door, his barely checked emotions radiating off of him. He fixated his gold eyes on the thermostat beside him, the mercury inside showing off carmine where his watch said teal.

He punched it, doing little more than bruising the palm of his hand before storming out and left to the building’s exit. 

\--------------------------------

Kei let the water run while he brushed his teeth. The hiss of the spray hitting the basin allowed him to wallow in thought for another few minutes. Dark flashbacks from the nightmare prickled the corners of his eyes, causing him to tense and glance sideways every few seconds or so in mild paranoia. _Calm down, it was just a dream,_ he repeated for the fifth time that morning. Finishing his morning hygiene, and quickly wiping his face, he shut off the water, letting the silence ring in his ears. Kei pushed his glasses onto his face as he exited the bathroom, just in time for his mother to call up the stairs.

“Kei! Please hurry! Tadashi-kun is here!”  
Kei sighed and grabbed his bag and headphones from the floor, positioning both securely before heading downstairs.

“I’m leaving,” he announced, not bothering to raise his voice for his mother.  
“Okay! Don’t forget to go shopping tonight. Your father and I are scheduled back by Saturday. I’ve left some money on the counter.”  
Kei glanced into the kitchen and made note of the yen his mother had dutifully left out. He walked in and carefully scooped it into his pocket. “Thank you.”  
“You have the emergency numbers on the refrigerator if anything happens. I think your brother is on call this weekend as well.”  
“Yes, mother.”  
“And the spare rifles are under the sink!” she reminded, planting a kiss on his cheek. “Have a good day at school, sweetheart! Say hello to Tadashi-kun for me.”

Kei nodded, and headed to the door, pausing only to slip his shoes on over his socks before heading out, shutting the door quietly behind him. A bright smile and a wave greeted him from the gate.

“Good morning, Tsukki!” Yamaguchi greeted. “Ready for today?”  
“Good morning,” Kei responded, purposefully ignoring his question as they headed down the street. “You know you can come inside instead of waiting by the gate. It’s probably too cold for that still. You’ll get sick.”  
“Sorry, Tsukki! I knew you’d only be a minute, though, so it’s okay.”

Yamaguchi talked about nothing as they ambled along. The mostly-barren branches providing minimal cover from the early-spring sun with their budding leaves and flowers. Even the sidewalk grass was still browned from the winter. Kei listened to him, his attention only straying a few times to the odd chirping sparrows or cawing crows overhead. His eyes, however, he let skirt the surroundings, searching for shadows, as he did every morning.

“Are you excited for today, Tsukki?” Yamaguchi asked, pulling Kei out of his thoughts.  
“Huh?”  
“For volleyball! Our first club meeting is this afternoon, remember?”  
“Oh, right,” Kei remembered. “I suppose so.”  
“Tsukki, you can’t ‘suppose’ excitement,” Yamaguchi said with a smirk. “I wonder why the manager asked us to come today instead of next week? It should be fun though, regardless. A whole new year, a whole new team… I bet you’ll be a starter for sure! You got so tall over the break.”  
“Yamaguchi, shut up.”  
“Sorry, Tsukki. It’s true though, you did.”

It went like that all the way to the front gate of the school. Kei adjusted the buttons on his jacket as he walked in, following the posted announcements as to where he should be going. Yamaguchi, thankfully, stayed right by his side.

Orientation on the first day hadn't been horrible, he supposed. The dean was a ridiculous man with an even more ridiculous toupee that Kei would bet any amount he tried to pass off as his real hair. He'd pointed this out to Yamaguchi, who fought to keep his laughter down by sinking his teeth into his bottom lip. His shoulders quivered, and the freckles on his nose squished together as it scrunched up. Kei had let himself smile for a second. 

They'd ended up in the same class, for which Kei was also grateful. He noticed that he was once again taller than his classmates, and despite Yamaguchi’s downright _terrifying_ growth spurt in middle school that had had Kei questioning his entire existence, it was nice to have someone next to him that he didn’t have to look too far down at. They sat next to each other, towards the back near the windows. They ate lunch outside during the break, even though it was still by most standards too cold. All the while, Yamaguchi filled the void Kei left with chatter. He didn’t mind the eclipse to his thoughts, which largely consisted of frustrated grumbling over the fact that he had to go to the gym today and meet the volleyball team. And deal with Shimizu-san and Suga.

But nonetheless, 4:00 came, and Yamaguchi’s excited babble increased as they approached the gymnasium. Kei let him talk, his eyes flitting to the side at the glimpse of a blur of orange running away alongside a tall and familiar dark shape. For the first time that day, he grinned. 

As soon as they stepped into the gym, Suga turned and brightened considerably, ignoring the banter behind him between a second-year who appeared to be trying and failing to flirt with Shimizu-san, and a very uninterested Shimizu-san.

“Oh!” he announced, drawing attention to them. As a third year stepped forward and explained away their unexpected presence, Suga’s warm amber eyes locked onto his. Kei forced himself not to scowl as Yamaguchi stepped forward and bowed enthusiastically.  
“Yes! I’m Yamaguchi Tadashi, and this is Tsukishima Kei.”  
“Oh, you’re Yamaguchi-kun?” Suga repeated, quirking an eyebrow and glancing meaningfully in Kei’s direction. Kei’s scowl breached his outer nonchalance. “And you’re-“  
“Tsukishima Kei,” he repeated. “I can introduce myself, Yamaguchi.”  
“Sorry, Tsukki!”

“You’re both pretty tall,” the third year standing behind Suga noted. He was broad-shouldered, with dark hair. Kei pasted the name Suga had mentioned during his interview on him. “That’s good. We need more tall players on our team.”  
“Sawamura Daichi,” Daichi introduced. “I’m the captain. And this is Sugawara Koushi, the Vice-Captain.”  
“Please, call me Suga!” Suga repeated, more to Yamaguchi than to him.  
“What are your positions?” Daichi asked.  
“Middle Blocker,” Kei answered with Yamaguchi nodding beside him.  
“I probably should have guessed as much,” Daichi replied with a grin before turning behind him. “Oi, Tanaka! Get over here.”

Kei was then introduced to Tanaka Ryuunosuke, the aforementioned second year who reminded him quite frankly of a rabid dog. Daichi was quick to mention that they should avoid riling him up if they wanted to keep their sanity, which Kei filed away for good use. Easily-irritated people could be amusing when not annoying the piss out of him. They did warmups with the team, and learned that there were two other first years that had joined the club, but they’d gotten themselves banned from the gym earlier for being disrespectful to Daichi and the dean. In fact, they were to have a practice three-on three match this Saturday against them, and they were not allowed to use the gym to practice.

“What, are they practicing outside?!” Yamaguchi wondered with a sly look. “Isn’t it cold?”  
“Serves them right,” Kei sighed, paying more attention to his stretches. As Daichi lined them up for running drills, Suga weaseled his way beside him.

“You seem less hostile than you were the other day,” he murmured. “Did you reconsider what Kiyoko-san said?”  
“No,” he replied. “And I’m not hostile.”

Suga simply grinned brightly before the whistle blew and they took off sprinting down the court. Kei didn’t bother keeping up with the team more than he had to. His legs were more than long enough to compensate for his lack of speed, and he hadn’t run until his vision ran white in years. He didn’t miss this uncomfortable sticking polyester on his back or the heat-fog on his glasses. 

Daichi tested out both himself and Yamaguchi in various drills which resulted in his scowl worsening as it was revealed that his receive hadn’t improved much over the years. Each attempt made, the ball smacked against his forearm, hissing as the leather bit into his skin, leaving an angry red welt behind as it ricocheted off to one side instead of forward. Each time, someone tried to reassure him it would get better, which only further illuminated the graffiti on his inner walls.

_Pathetic._

“Water?”  
Kei glanced up to see Shimizu holding out a water bottle to him. He hesitated only a moment before accepting. Shimizu smiled at him, which caused a knot to form in his stomach.

“What do you think?” she asked. “Is it what you expected?”  
“It’s small,” Kei replied after a moment of contemplation.  
“Yes. The size of it means less anonymity than we would like, but we’re also missing two members outside of the other first years.”  
“I prefer it,” Kei stated. “Less collateral.”  
“I figured you would say something like that. You don’t always have to act like a lone wolf, you know. The point of the juniors division is learning to work with others. You’ll see that when the whole team is back together.”  
“Speaking of which, I have a question,” Kei asked. “It’s about a rumor I heard. Regarding the other first-years that supposedly caused trouble on the first day—"  
"They have not been considered for recruitment," Shimizu stated bluntly, "but I admire your resolve to continue to ignore Yamaguchi-kun as an option."  
"That wasn't what I was going to ask."  
"I see. My apologies, then."  


“Oi! Glasses-kun! How come Kiyoko-san is talking to you?!” Tanaka suddenly raged from across the court. Shimizu sighed, and turned away from him, which did little to assuage the second-year’s tirade (“That makes me so jealous!”). Before walking away, she cocked her head over her shoulder. 

"Tsukishima-kun, I meant it when I said I admire your resolve," she breathed. Her smile had been wiped clean, but her gaze remained warm.  
“Please allow Suga and me to help you.”

Kei decided he was going to stay close to Yamaguchi for the rest of practice. He made sure to keep one eye on the third years, and made it a point to herd his friend across the court from wherever they were. Unfortunately, Suga seemed to be making it a point to stay as close as possible to the both of them, and it wasn’t long before he and Yamaguchi were striking up conversation. Their talk was full of smiles and warm giggles and the knot in Kei’s stomach hardened considerably.

He wasn’t allowed a say in the matter when they began cleaning up at the end of practice. Suga dragged him off to help collect the dust mops.

“Do you feel better yet?” he asked. “You looked awfully sour during practice.”  
“I’m not sour,” Kei countered. “You should already know from my file that I don’t get on well with people.”  
“Psh,” Suga dismissed, waving a hand in his direction before handing him a mop. “You know, I don’t think I ever told you during your interview anything about my place in the division. That was my fault for getting distracted.”  
“It doesn’t make a difference to me,” Kei answered with a shrug. Suga grinned.  
“I focus in intelligence gathering,” Suga explained, confirming Kei’s earlier suspicions. “My specialties are reading body language and adapting to others. People always say I’m sociable and nice to talk to, so it’s easy for me to get close when I want to.”

Kei’s willed his stare to turn bitter as a challenge. Suga noticed and laughed, continuing to dismiss him with several firm pats to the shoulder.  
“You’ll let me know if you need anything,” he stated rather than asked, shoving the rest of the mops into his arms before walking out. Kei inhaled deeply before following his senpai out. He forced himself to focus on sweeping the floors, and only half listened to Daichi explaining and showing them the clubroom as a result of being hyperaware of Suga’s grin boring into the back of his head with its heat.

He welcomed the walk home in the cool evening breeze, with only Yamaguchi at his side. The air he breathed felt fresher in his lungs, purified by Yamaguchi’s newly uncensored babble.

“That wasn’t so bad!” he was saying. “I was so nervous before, but our senpai are really nice! Don’t you think? Well, except for maybe Tanaka-san. He’s a little too wild, but otherwise—“  
“What difference does it make if they’re nice or strict? They’re senpai,” Kei interrupted. Yamaguchi chewed on the inside of his cheek, the act sucking freckles into the dip it created in his skin. Kei’s eyes softened on the sight.  
“Yeah, but strict senpai would be more intimidating.”  
“Yamaguchi, you realize you’re taller than all of them?”  
“I suppose…”

“One More!”

Kei’s attention was pulled ahead of them at once, where an orange-haired pipsqueak appeared to be practicing receives with another, taller player. Kei recognized the taller figure at once, and a smirk crawled onto his face.

“Eh, Tsukki? What’s with that face?” Yamaguchi asked, raising a brow. Kei gestured with his head towards the pair ahead of them. His feet started moving on autopilot as he squashed the echo of Shimizu's voice in his ear.  
“The rumor I heard was true. Look who it is.”

He felt Yamaguchi’s presence behind him dim as he stood up straighter, plastering the grin across his face, and hardening his golden eyes. He strolled over to the pair as they tossed the ball back and forth, the little one darting back and forth as if racing bullets. He outstretched his hand over the pipsqueak’s head, the ball landing squarely in his palm.

“Wow, they’re really doing this outside,” he sighed offhandedly in Yamaguchi’s direction, his chest fluttering as he heard his friend stifle a snicker behind him. “Are you two the first years that stirred up trouble on the first day?”  
“T-shirts?” Yamaguchi chimed in, his shoulders quivering with his repressed giggles. “Aren’t you both cold?”

Kei basked in the fact that the pipsqueak’s jaw dropped to the dirt for a full three seconds before he started hopping up and down to retrieve the volleyball from him. Kei simply raised his arm higher.  
“Give it back!” the pipsqueak demanded. Kei sniffed.  
“Isn’t it time for elementary school boys to go home?” he asked, mimicking Suga's tone from before. A snort escaped Yamaguchi’s lips as the pipsqueak recoiled, his tiny face contorting with rage.  
“Who the hell are you guys anyway?!”  


“You’re the other first years joining the club?” The taller player asked calmly from behind his partner. Kei’s grin widened as the pipsqueak mouthed off beneath him (“Oi! I was talking here!”). He recognized this guy from watching the junior high tournament. The infamous “King of the Court,” Kageyama Tobio. He was taller than Kei expected, taller than Yamaguchi even (if by only a centimeter or two). His face appeared to be contorted into a permanent scowl, and the look emanating from his dark eyes was scathing. Kei's gleaming eyes zeroed in on his menacing aura, imagining him in an interrogation room with an enemy of the state before remembering that A) Kageyama was likely an idiot, and B) Kei was not interested in recruiting for the Organization.

“How tall are you?” Kageyama asked, confirming his civil uselessness.  
“Tsukki is 188 cm!” Yamaguchi boasted, to which Kei felt his entire façade shrivel. His shoulders slumped, and his practiced smirk fell into his more comfortable frown. “He’ll be 190 soon.”  
“What?!”  
“What are you bragging about Yamaguchi?” he asked. Yamaguchi stiffened beside him, recovering only with a quick smile.  
“Sorry, Tsukki.”

Kei exhaled, forgetting the transgression at once in favor of fully exploiting the opportunity in front of him. He resumed his façade, growing his condescending smirk once more, even if he knew his stare would no longer hold its bite.

“You’re Kageyama of Kitagawa Daiichi, aren’t you? “What’s an ‘elite’ like you doing in Karasuno?” he asked, keeping his tone casual and his use of ‘elite’ liberal.

“Hey!”  
Kei glanced back down at the pipsqueak, quirking a brow.  
“We won’t lose this Saturday, you hear me?!”

Kei narrowed his eyes, trying to imagine this speedy little fuzzball doing anything remotely important. The thought was only moderately amusing, Kei sighed, figuring if he was going to engage these two, he might as well go all the way.

“Oh, I see,” he noted, keeping his tone even. He smiled brightly, the tight, insincere tug at the corners of his mouth only somewhat unpleasant. “It might be an important match for you two, but it doesn’t matter to me at all. I’m not worried about winning or losing, so if you two really need to win, I can go easy on you if you like.”

“WHAT?!” The pipsqueak roared, having granted Kei his desired outcome. _To be expected of idiots._  
“Whether you go easy or give it your all, the bottom line is I will win,” Kageyama threatened suddenly, his already menacing aura radiating off him in waves that carried an acidic tinge. Kei laughed sardonically.  
“Amazing confidence! I expect nothing less of the ‘King.’”  
“Oi! Don’t call me that,” Kageyama growled, confirming the rumor in Kei's mind.

“Oh, so it is true,” he countered quickly.  
_“What?!”_  
“The rumor that he loses it when he’s called the ‘King of the Court,’” Kei continued, his eyes flashing dangerously as they zeroed on Kageyama. “What’s wrong with ‘King?’ It’s cool. I think it suits you perfectly, ‘King.’”

Kageyama went quiet for a moment.  
“What do you want from me, dude?” he hissed. Kei sighed and strolled passed the two of them, still bouncing the volleyball in his hand.  
“I watched the prefecture preliminary tournament,” he said darkly. “That was some egocentric tossing. I can’t believe your teammates tolerated it, because I just couldn’t. Oh! I guess what happened was because they couldn’t tolerate it anymore, either.”

All at once, Kageyama wheeled around, knocking the volleyball out of his hand, and gripping Kei’s collar in his fist hard enough to turn his knuckles white. His dark eyes flashed with imagined murder.  
“Tsukki!” Yamaguchi cried. The chilled air around them tensed with static. Kei grinned wickedly, flexing his fists by his sides. His desire for action simmering in his chest. _I dare you._  
And then Kageyama stopped. He released Kei’s collar with a huff, walked away, and hoisted his bag over his shoulder. Kei blinked in shock.

“Let’s go,” Kageyama said to his tiny partner, who looked halfway between concerned and confused.  
“Um… hey!”  
“Running away? I guess the ‘King’ isn’t all he’s cracked up to be,” Kei called after him, stooping down to pick up the volleyball. “Maybe I’ll win against the ‘King’ this Saturday, too.”

He tossed the ball up into the air, but before it could secure itself squarely in his palm, a blur of orange whizzed by, soaring over his head to capture it. Kei's vision blurred, shifting to see a taller, blonder head rushing past him to catch something far deadlier. Rough arms grabbing him around the middle and tossing him to the side. And the blazing orange heat that followed. His face contorted into horror as the pipsqueak flew at least two meters and landed, volleyball in hand, and nostalgic flames dancing at his feet.

“Shut up with the ‘King’ crap,” he growled, rising up from the fire. “I’m here, too! I’ll spike the ball over your head at the match.”  
“Huh?” Kei asked tersely, blinking the embers of memory away, feeling his façade slip once again into a scowl. The pipsqueak stepped back and put up a hand.  
“W-what?” He challenged weakly, “Hey! You wanna fight, bastard?”

His previously playful mood had already curdled and blackened with emotional rot, and his face showed it. Kei sighed, and took a deep breath, plastering an equally unsettling bright smile across his face.  
“Let’s not get so intense,” he said, waving the pipsqueak off. “Let’s do this cheerfully, for fun. It’s only a club activity after all.”  
“What do you mean ‘only’?” the pipsqueak responded, looking genuinely confused. Kei reaffirmed his idiot status as well.  
“I mean it literally,” he stated, turning away and motioning for Yamaguchi to follow. “See you later.”

“Hey, wait!” the pipsqueak shouted after them. “Who are you guys?”  
Kei half-considered ignoring him, but decided against it, embers still smoldering where he stood.  
“First year, class 4, Tsukishima Kei.”  
“I’m Yamaguchi Tadashi.”  
“We’re your teammates starting today,” Kei explained, “but enemies for now. Looking forward to seeing the ‘King’s’ tosses. See ya.”

Yamaguchi glanced behind them only once as they continued down the street, eyeing him with curiosity.

“What was that all about?” he asked, brushing his elbow playfully against his. Kei scoffed.  
“People who get fired up too quickly over nothing piss me off,” he explained. Yamaguchi made a face.  
“So you picked a fight?”  
“I was only messing with him. You were too.”  
“Yeah, I guess,” he agreed, “But you were really reckless this time! Kageyama looked like he was ready to hit you!”  
“I could take him.”

Yamaguchi snorted and laughed, and it felt like spring rain on the embers, extinguishing them and tossing their smoke to the wind. Kei took a deep breath, letting the purified air sink in. He let himself take a half-step closer ass the evening fell to dusk, and decided against voicing any concern about their shoulders brushing against each other every few seconds. The contact sent pleasant warmth down his side and sent his heart into a familiar syncopated rhythm set years ago.

Just as soon as their steps started falling together, Yamaguchi paused, glancing down the routine street they’d passed instead of taken.  
“Tsukki? Isn’t this where you go?” he asked, pointing down the intersection. Kei reached into his pocket and fished out the yen his mother left that morning.  
“I’ve got to go to the store. My parents are out this week,” he explained. Yamaguchi nodded and smiled, half-jogging to catch up to him, and filling the raw silence with his chatter until they reached the supermarket.

“I’m going to get started on my homework,” Yamaguchi said, gripping Kei’s wrist to catch his attention and throwing another shock to his irregular heartbeat. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Tsukki!”  
“Yeah,” Kei agreed, turning to watch his friend disappear around the corner before pulling his headphones up over his ears, taking another deep breath, and trying to will away the lingering feeling of static on his arm.

\------------------------------------------

As Yamaguchi had predicted, Daichi had made him a starter for his height, despite Kei’s efforts to appear as unexceptional as remotely possible. He ended up being on the roster alongside the captain, Tanaka, Kageyama, and the orange-haired pipsqueak for an upcoming match against a powerhouse school that the advisor had probably bullied them into agreeing to (Kei had made more scathing comments about this to Yamaguchi, who had laughed openly and ended up having to apologize for). The pipsqueak, he’d learned, was called Hinata Shouyou, and despite his and Kageyama’s godlike freak-quick, Hinata had about as much talent on the volleyball court as a _hikikomori_ auditioning to be an idol.

“He wants to be the ace,” Suga said one day after cornering him during break. He had been persistent, and made good on his word to get Kei talking to him. “He admires the fabled ‘Little Giant,’ which isn’t surprising.”

Kei had seen the Little Giant before, and felt the tinge of static in his chest, the blur of orange and heat bubbling to the surface alongside the memories of the cheers of the crowd and the gaunt, dead look in Akiteru’s eyes hours before.

“Feh. He’s got ways to go,” Kei scoffed. Suga grinned.  
“You’re one to talk, Mr. Never-gives-his-all!”  
“Why should I put in more effort than necessary? I’m apparently good enough to be a starter. I don’t need to work any harder than that.”  
“Because it’s good for you?” Suga prompted. “If you never practice, you’ll never advance, here and in the Organization too.”  
“What if I don’t want to advance?” Kei growled. Suga sighed and smiled and shook his head. Kei’s eyes darkened and his heart sunk, already knowing he’d said too much.  
“If that’s all you’re afraid of, I’m sure you could take Yamaguchi with you after you recr—“  
“I regret opening my mouth,” Kei interrupted, earning him another sly look from his senpai. He quickened his pace, hoping to put as much distance between himself and the older boy as possible. Stupid reconnaissance specialists. 

“By the way,” Suga continued, “about the match against Aoba Johsai.”  
Kei slowed his pace at once, turning around to face Suga. His normally warm face had turned eerily serious, causing chills to appear on Kei’s skin.  
“What about them?”

“You know that the Juniors’ division has at least two agents in every high school in the country, yes?” Suga asked. Kei nodded.  
“Aoba Johsai currently has eight. Three of theirs happen to be members of the school’s volleyball club,” Suga explained. “And two of those three are people you absolutely need to worry about. They’re both third years, like me, and they’re both high-ranking members of the trainee extermination squad.”

Kei felt a lump form in his throat. The extermination squad were a highly mobile, militant unit that existed to “discretely” stamp out threats to the peace by any means necessary. Two high ranking junior exterminators meant that they’d undoubtedly have eyes on Yamaguchi, just itching for him to show signs of trouble.

“Tsukishima, has Yamaguchi—?”  
“He hasn’t developed yet,” Kei snapped. “You’d know if he did.”  
“Any signs at all? I need to know what to look for while you’re on the court. I’ve heard rumors about one of the two third-year agents, and according to the grapevine, he’s uncannily perceptive.”

The lump tightened. Kei’s jaw locked and he squeezed his eyes shut, inhaling sharply. If Suga heard the window frame rattling for just a second, he didn’t let on. Kei forced himself to calm down, swallowed the lump, and strode over to his senpai.

“Tsukishima—“  
“He gives off static sometimes when he gets nervous,” Kei breathed in Suga’s ear. “You’ll see a small charge jump his freckles. Once, and this was only once, he became so upset that the lights started to flicker, but I wouldn’t expect that in a practice match.”  
Suga exhaled, like he hadn’t been expecting Kei to share, and nodded.  
"I'll take care of him during the match, then," Suga promised. "Please trust me."

The thought of trusting anyone with Yamaguchi while he would have to focus on a practice match generated an excess of bile in Kei, that bubbled and gurgled every time he breathed, and threatened to come spewing out by the end of lunch hour. He stayed close to Yamaguchi during practice that day, focusing on both of their receiving ability. Yamaguchi must have noticed something was off, because he hardly spoke a word. On their way home, they stopped on a nearby bench to eat the snacks Daichi had bought for them. Kei immediately stretched out, resting his head on Yamaguchi’s lap and pulling his headphones over his ears. Before two minutes had passed, he could feel Yamaguchi’s static-laced fingers carding through his hair softly at a well-practiced pace. Kei felt his shoulders relax into Yamaguchi’s thigh. He eventually reached up and grabbed his free hand, resting both on his shoulder.

“Thanks,” he mumbled, his own voice muffled over the sound of the music. Yamaguchi’s hand slipped form his and moved the headphones out of the way, causing Kei to open one eye.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked. From that angle, the moon was behind Yamaguchi’s head, and his hair seemed to be glowing. Kei met his warm, shadowed eyes for only a moment before readjusting himself fin Yamaguchi’s lap.  
“The practice match,” he answered.  
“Oh? Are you nervous?” Yamaguchi guessed. “I know they’re supposed to be a really strong team, but I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”  
“I hope not,” Kei answered, sitting up straight and offering his headphones to Yamaguchi. “Want a turn?”

Yamaguchi nodded. They traded spots, Yamaguchi making himself comfortable on Kei’s thighs, headphones loose around his ears, flipping through his phone and changing the song every twelve seconds or so. Kei busied himself with petting his hair, fluffing it up and then smoothing it out across his lap. Yamaguchi hummed blithely in response. It took him until the moon rose a meter higher over the treetops to settle down, but once he did, his contented hum was all but constant in Kei’s ears.

_Please stay like this,_ Kei silently begged, watching a light breeze toss his bangs across his face and carrying the muffled tune from his ears to the air. _Please don’t ever become like me._

\------------------------------------------

Aoba Johsai (or Seijou, as it was nicknamed) exceeded Kei’s initial expectations from the moment they reached the gym. It was huge, and sheer number of people inside made it feel even huger. Kei put up his guard, standing protectively in front of Yamaguchi as they got off the bus. His golden eyes flicked back and forth, searching for tensed shoulders, a hard, narrowed gaze; the tell-tale signs of someone who _knew._

Luckily for him, it wasn’t long until Tanaka did the finding for him. Two boys dressed in white track suits came strolling down the path, gossiping loudly about them. The smaller one, who looked a little bit like a cream-puff, off-handedly mentioned Tanaka’s shaved head and wild nature, and Tanaka was never one to miss a beat. He peered around the corner and stared them down.

“Don’t underestimate us too much,” he threatened as Kei, Yamaguchi, and Kageyama all joined him. “Or we’ll eat you alive!”  
The two players paled so much that Kei couldn’t help but smirk. He stepped forward, his golden eyes flashing as he flipped back and forth between the two, searching.  
“You shouldn’t threaten them too much, Tanaka-san,” he chastised lightly. “Look what you did, you scared these poor elites. Now I feel sorry for them.”

The cream-puff eyed him warily as his shallot-haired friend mouthed off, which of course only served to get Tanaka riled up more. Kei engaged him in return, searching his chestnut brown eyes for the telltale glint. It took a second, but he found it, and at once, both boys narrowed their eyes.

“You guys!” Daichi’s voice scolded. Kei instantly broke off the engagement with the cream-puff as he led Yamaguchi away, free of reprimand (“I can’t let you out of my sight!”). His stare hardened as the other turquoise players came into view from the door.

Suga came up behind him and pat him on the shoulder not a second later.  
“Stop thinking too hard,” he hissed. “You’re scaring Hinata with your glare, and he’s nervous enough as it is. Just focus on the match, I’ll focus on Yamaguchi.”  
“The junior agents, are we playing them?” Kei replied. Suga nodded.  
“Two are in Seijou’s lineup, but not the one I was telling you about. Iwaizumi Hajime and Yahaba Shigeru. The ace and the setter, respectively. Yahaba just got out of recruitment, so he’s not as much of a threat, but…”  
“He’s still EXSquad,” Kei grumbled, thinking back to the glint in the creampuff’s eye that colored them sanguine. “They’re all threats. Where’s the third?”  
“Not sure. I was expecting him to be here,” Suga replied. “But I’m not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Just play the game. And stop looking so scary! This is supposed to just be practice!”

Suga drove his point home with a karate chop to the back of Kei’s head. Kei glared at him, rubbing the now-throbbing spot as Suga donned a cheerful smile and looped an arm around Yamaguchi, leading him away while talking animatedly about volleyball. Kei, meanwhile, was lured the other direction by Daichi and Tanaka for warmups. Kei inhaled deeply, and paid attention to his stretches. His eye caught the glimmer of the scaffolding above them and willed himself to reach it with a steel that bubbled in his chest and burned. 

Kei chanced a look over at the turquoise side of the net, and noticed the creampuff, Yahaba, starting at him with the same narrowed look from the courtyard. Kei deadened his own stare and watched carefully as he gently elbowed his smaller teammate next to him. The teammate turned over his shoulder and locked on to Kei with magma behind his gaze. _That must be the other one,_ Kei determined. Iwaizumi nodded acknowledgement to him, which Kei returned out of courtesy. Something about his seriousness fueled the acrid burning in his chest, and his next exhale came out hot. 

They lined up and thanked the officials. Daichi shook Iwaizumi’s hand firmly, and Kei ran into position, finding himself squared off against Yahaba. The boy’s chestnut eyes hadn’t lost their sanguine glint.  
“Tsukishima?” he asked. Kei nodded once, earning him a strange look from Kageyama to his side.  
“Yahaba,” he replied.  
“I wasn’t expecting you to be so tall,” he remarked.  
“I usually go against expectations,” he countered sardonically, taking his stance. The first serve came from Seijou’s side. Kei took a deep breath and told himself to relax.

It was a disaster, thanks to Hinata. The pipsqueak was so nervous that he toppled Tanaka twice, crashed into Daichi, crashed into the referee ladder, and received a ball straight to the official’s face. If nothing else, it helped lighten his mood a little, since he couldn’t stop laughing, and neither could Yamaguchi. And what couldn’t be timed worse? Seijou’s set point at Hinata’s serve. Kei knew that the other team wasn’t taking them seriously at this point, but honestly, neither was he, and he was sure to get some entertainment out of it. Hinata turned around, quaking, and Kei could see the millions of thoughts racing through him a mile a minute. He took a second to feel something close to pity before turning around, waiting for the pipsqueak to make his move.

The whistle blew; he tossed the ball up. It thwacked squarely against his hand and smacked cleanly into the back of Kageyama’s head.

The entire gym went dead silent, and even Kei stared in shock as the whistle blew signaling the end of the first set. Kei watched as Kageyama’s menacing aura flared up, and he slowly turned around to glare daggers at Hinata behind him. Kei bit down on his lip, his shoulder’s quivering with how hard he was trying to hold it in and failing. Luckily, Tanaka broke first. They simultaneously burst into a fit of raucous laughter, calling at Hinata from behind Kageyama.

“Is your head okay?”  
“Nice headshot, man!”  
“Don’t razz him!” Suga scolded from the sidelines in vain. Kei clutched his middle, and had to balance on Tanaka’s shoulder as Kageyama stormed towards the back line to put the fear of God in his classmate. He wheezed and wobbled over to the sideline before collapsing into Yamaguchi, who wasn’t faring much better. It took a full minute to recompose, just in time for Kageyama’s scare tactic to succeed, and Tanaka to pick Hinata up off the ground. 

And just like that, it was time for the second set. The shallot-haired guy came up to Hinata as the whistle blew and whispered across the net.  
“Hey, teach me later how to serve to the back of the head!”  
Kei snorted from the sideline at Hinata’s intense recoil.  
“Teach me later too!” he chided.

The next set started go to a little bit better after that. With Hinata finally focusing on the match, Kei could pay more attention to the game. He offhandedly noticed that more of Seijou’s students had gathered in the gym, and couldn’t help but wonder why. Hinata and Kageyama’s first attempt at their freak quick failed, earning them jeers from shallot-hair, but the second one worked, and all of Seijou appeared to be in shock. That was hardly surprising. He’d been surprised, too, the first time he’d seen Hinata jump. The entire gym erupted into cheers, and Yahaba pulled shallot-hair aside for a chat with Iwaizumi.

It felt like riding a summer breeze after that. Kei himself got several blocks in, and shared a grin with Yahaba from across the net. It was so simple. Seijou called for a time out, and Kei joined the group in their huddle, where Shimizu was passing out water. Kei noticed Hinata staring at the drinks from behind him, grabbed one, and stood to his full height.

“Want a drink?” he offered, grinning as he pressed the bottle directly into Hinata’s cheek. Yamaguchi burst into giggles. “Oh, sorry, your face is lower than I thought.”

As play resumed, Kei made it to the front line, still riding the refreshing summer breeze. The ball was coming to Kageyama, who eyed him just an instant before. Kei ran to the net and jumped. And just like that, the ball was there, in his hand. It wasn’t there the way he would have liked, but it was perfect and it was _there_ for him to hit over the net. 

“Nice, Tsukki!” Yamaguchi cheered from the sidelines as Tanaka clapped him on the back. He eyed Kageyama.  
“Your tosses are too accurate,” he criticized. Kageyama blinked. “It gives me the creeps.”  
Kageyama recoiled and flared. “Hey! I can just aim it at your glasses, if you like!”  
“Try it,” Kei scoffed. “You’ll just get banned from the gym again.”  
“I’ll just do it so no-one will notice!”  
“You obviously can’t do that. Are you stupid?”  
“We’re in a match,” Daichi interrupted, coming between them. “Isn’t that enough?”

They shut up long enough for the whistle to blow, and suddenly they had to work together. Kei kept muttering under his breath slyly for Kageyama to hear, only to receive just as biting remarks in return that only stopped long enough to see Iwaizumi jumping for Yahaba’s toss. Kei jumped too, extending his fingers for the scaffolding. His molten eyes locked on, and he saw the ace hesitate. The ball ricocheted off his arm, and the whistle blew. Kageyama hissed in triumph.  
“Hey, don’t do that. I’m the one who blocked it.”  
“What? It hit my hand too!”  
“Hey, that’s enough you two!” Daichi roared, shutting them both up permanently.

They took the second set with another freak-quick. The team reconvened on the sidelines, Shimizu passing out water to the team.  
“Nice toss, Kageyama,” Ennoshita praised.  
“Oh, thanks.”  
“On to winning the final set!” Tanaka announced, clapping Hinata on the back so hard that he winded him. Kei accepted a towel from Shimizu and eyed the turquoise team, frowning. Yahaba was eyeing him warily again, as was Iwaizumi. Yahaba’s eyes flicked to Yamaguchi for only a split second, but that was enough for Kei to squeeze Yamaguchi’s wrist and usher the boy behind him. Yahaba noticed, Yamaguchi didn’t.

“I’m glad they don’t have another serve-hitter like Kageyama,” Ennoshita continued.  
“Yeah,” Daichi agreed, “because our team is not great at receives.”  
“We shouldn’t let our guard down,” Kageyama interjected, catching Kei’s attention. He looked fiercer than normal, and Suga immediately glanced to the other side. “I’m thinking that maybe their setter wasn’t the main setter.”

_It was too simple._

“Tsukishima, someone’s coming!” Suga hissed. Kei turned, just as the track above them erupted into high pitched squeals and cheers. A tall, lanky boy in a white tracksuit had entered. His brown hair bounced when he walked, and he’d plastered a grin to his face that liquidated the steel built up from earlier. He approached the Seijou team, hands casually slung in his pockets, and faced the coach.

“Oh, Oikawa, you’re back!” the coach remarked. “How’s the ankle?”  
“It’s fine,” the newcomer answered with a bright smile. “I can get back to regular practice. It was just a slight sprain.”  
“For crying out loud,” the coach scolded. “Be more careful! You’re the one who asked to play against Kageyama. What would we do without our official setter? It’s embarrassing.”  
“I’m sorry~!” Oikawa apologized in the most annoying, sing-song way possible. Kei tensed up at once, clenching his fists by his sides. If Yahaba's eyes had looked sanguine, this guy radiated carnage.

“Kageyama-kun, who’s that nice guy?” Tanaka grilled. “I find him unpleasant.”  
“That’s him!” Suga hissed urgently in Kei’s ear. “That’s the one I warned you about. His name’s—“  
“Oikawa Tooru, the Captain of Seijou,” Daichi named. Kageyama nodded.  
“Oikawa-san is a super-aggressive setter,” he explained. “His attack power is probably the top of his team. And he’s got a terrible personality.”  
“On top of being a top-notch sniper, he’s rumored to be able to see half a kilometer in the dark without a scope,” Suga continued privately. “Though I don’t know how true that is… even so, we need to be careful around him. He’s undoubtedly going to be watching us now that he’s here, and I know for a fact that he’ll be able to spot our weaknesses faster than we can blink.”

The molten, liquefied steel in his chest evaporated, singeing the back of his throat. He stared Oikawa down, trying to riddle past the boy’s unpleasant façade to no avail. Finally, he turned around, his brown, carnage-filled eyes flashing, snapshotting each individual player before he found his prey. His eyes grew wide, his smile blinding, and he waved.  
“Yoo-hoo~! Tobio-chan!!” He called to Kageyama. “Long time no see!”

Kei blinked, immediately thrown off. A sniper of his caliber, and he didn’t even bother to acknowledge him or Suga? Or Shimizu, even? Oikawa was then ordered to go warm up, and grinned wickedly over his shoulder at Karasuno before obeying.

And it was time for the third set. Kei glanced at Yamaguchi from the back line, trying to reclaim his nerves. Oikawa wasn’t on the court. Oikawa wasn’t playing this game. He could question the sniper later.

The third set went just as well as the second, with Kageyama tossing pinpoint balls right into the spikers’ palms, on top of Hinata’s freak-quick, and Tanaka’s sheer willpower. Kei hardly had to do any work himself, which he preferred. The unsettled sloshing of his nerves was getting to him, and it started showing in his already useless receives. The rattling iron poles holding the net nearest to him were practically bending under his stress. He could feel that snapshot stare on him, could hear the shutter click every time the ball smacked off his arm wrong, every time a serve hit the net.

Match point couldn’t come fast enough. The whistle blew, and much to his dismay, Oikawa appeared to be talking to the coach, and then strolling onto the court with a relaxed smile. The girls in the stands started screaming rabidly, jarring Kei’s nerves to the point of splitting.  
“Oikawa, nice serve!” someone called. Kei didn’t care enough to look. Oikawa grinned.  
“No matter how strong your offense is,” he sighed into the static tension of the court, “it means nothing if you can’t connect to it.”

He raised one hand and pointed. To Kei.

Kei sucked in a breath, his heart skipping more than once, eyes cinched to pinpricks as they watched.

It was like magic, the way the ball rolled out of Oikawa’s hand, twirling effortlessly into the air and arching with a light whoosh. Oikawa’s sneakers squelching harshly against the wood as he pushed off, darting forward so fast he might as well have teleported to where it fell, snapshot eyes trained on its curve, palm rising to meet it square. The sound of the strike echoed so eerily like a gunshot that Kei couldn’t be sure it wasn’t one. The ball might as well have been a bullet as if flew directly at his face. He barely had time to lean back and raise his arms before it was biting into them and sent backwards into the rail of the track above them.

“Tsukki!”

Kei looked, and he wished he hadn’t, because Suga was gripping Yamaguchi’s wrist hard. He looked distressed, and Kei could see just the faintest line of static jump from his forearm to Suga’s wrist, making the older boy cringe. Kei automatically turned his focus back to Oikawa, who remained entirely unfazed, resting his hand lazily on one hip.  
“Just as I thought. I was watching part of the match,” Oikawa sighed, pointing out himself and Hinata. “You two aren’t good receivers, are you? You must be first-years.”  
Kei glared at him, his gold eyes flashing. Oikawa simply shrugged.  
“Oh well, let’s score another one!” he sang. 

And he did. And another and another off of Tsukishima’s arms, which were pulsing red by the end of it, until the score was almost tied. Kei cursed under his breath, as Yamaguchi’s electric distress only grew. He clung to Suga on the sidelines, radiating so much static that it was raising the older boy’s hair. He was clearly fighting to keep it down and not show his discomfort. And what’s worse was that Yahaba was definitely staring.

_This has to end, quickly,_ Kei decided, apathetic to victory at this point. Who cared about a game when his friend was in the sight of a trained assassin?

Hinata Shouyou, apparently, who suddenly began taunting Oikawa to hit his Hellspawn Serve at him instead. Daichi instantly ordered everyone to spread out, widening his receive range. Not that it mattered, Kei had a feeling the next one would be aimed at him as well. From his position, he could feel a thin bolt of static crawl up his leg.

It was as he thought, but this time his position towards the back corner and the fact that Oikawa had to sacrifice some of his power for accuracy gave him Kei extra split second he needed to receive Oikawa's demon serve properly. The ball went up, and Yamaguchi cheered. Kei thought he saw the flicker of a true bolt out of the corner of his eye, but convinced himself he was imagining it.

_Please end it,_ Kei prayed as Oikawa received his shitty receive and sent it to Yahaba, who tossed it to shallot-head. _Please someone do something to end it._

Hinata suddenly was there, blazing through faster than the explosion he came from the first time, and touched it. And in another flash that engulfed the gasoline trail Kei’s memory painted on the floor beneath his sneakers, he was on the other side of the court, jumping, and smacking the ball right past Oikawa’s stupefied face. The third year’s eyes blinked once; snapshot.

Kei’s shoulders shook. He hunched over, his breath leaving him in one exhale. It was over. The crowd of Seijou students marveled at Hinata as the teams lined up and parted. And after a whirlwind of a critique from Takeda-sensei, Kei grabbed Yamaguchi’s wrist and bolted from the gym.  
“Hey?! Tsukki! Where are we—?”  
“Yamaguchi,” Kei began darkly, freezing his friend where he stood. “Please stay out here for a minute and calm down. Then go back and help Shimizu-san clean up. Don’t talk to anyone. I’m going to change.”  
“O-okay,” Yamaguchi agreed with a meek smile. Kei steadied his heartbeat as he walked unsteadily back inside to join the others. Before he could make it to the changing room, though, a hand stopped him.

“Tsukishima, is it? Yahaba-chan told me your height was off-putting, but I don’t really see the big deal!”  
Kei’s golden eyes flashed in the direction of Oikawa’s brown snapshots. The boy grinned, much to the displeased look of Iwaizumi behind him.  
"You really cared about me not saying anything to you three when I got to the gym, huh?" Oikawa noted.  
"You didn't sprain your ankle at volleyball practice," Kei shot back. Oikawa's grin widened.  
“You know, I was kind of hoping to see the little Thunderbird play, what with him shooting off static all over the place,” Oikawa continued before his eyes turned dark, “but I must say, you were much more fun!”

Kei willed himself to control his recoil. He took a deep breath.  
“Good,” he replied, jerking his shoulder away from the sniper's touch, “because I won’t let you get near him.”  
“Oh? You’re that type, hm?” Oikawa asked, leaning in slightly before straightening and waving him off. “That’s fine. I wasn’t planning on hunting him anyway. He’s too cute for that! You should fix that little nervous outburst of his though. You’re lucky Yahaba-chan was the only one to see.”

Iwaizumi, at this point, raised a fist and punched Oikawa’s shoulder, causing the other to yelp.  
“Oi, Trashykawa! Don’t go around threatening our allies!” he scolded before looking up at Kei. “You made a good call getting him out of there. I thought he was gonna blow a fuse for sure.”  
“Thanks.”  
“Mean! Iwa-chan is mean!”  
“Iwaizumi Hajime,” Iwaizumi introduced, offering his hand. “Aoba Johsai Extermination Squad Third year.”  
“Tsukishima Kei, Karasuno Field Recon,” Kei regurgitated, accepting the hand. “First year.”  
“Hardly that, from what Oikawa and I heard,” Iwaizumi replied. “Is it true you’ve been tailing that Enhanced since Junior High?”  
“Before that, actually,” Kei answered. “And please don’t refer to him as ‘that Enhanced.’ He has a name.”  
“Ah, right. Yamaguchi… what… Takuma?” Oikawa guessed.  
“Tadashi.”  
“Right!! Yamaguchi Tadashi. A cute name to go with a cute face!”  
“That cute face could probably fry your ugly mug in two seconds,” Iwaizumi scolded, earning him tearful eyes wide with betrayal from his partner, which he dutifully ignored.

“Still, that’s extremely impressive. I’m sure you’ve got a plan for improvement.”  
“Right, well, he’s not exactly focused on that right now,” Kei admitted. “He doesn’t know. And I’m not planning on telling him anytime soon.”  
“What?!” Oikawa cried. “You mean to tell me that he’s harboring all that power inside him, and _you haven’t told him about it?!”_  
“No.”  
“That doesn’t… bother you?”  
“No. I have other things to worry about.”  
Oikawa narrowed his eyes, and then grinned, rattling Kei’s nerves again as he leaned forward, brushing his hand against Kei's wrist before reaching up and draping his arm over Kei's shoulder, making sure to hold his gaze. Iwaizumi simply nodded.  
“Understandable. He probably doesn’t need the distraction right now.”  
“And _you_ should probably focus on _your_ little problem instead anyway, yes?” Oikawa asked, dangling Akiteru’s watch in front of his face. Kei did recoil that time, snatching it out of Oikawa’s hand. Iwaizumi stared at Oikawa in shock.

“That’s a cute little toy,” Oikawa remarked smiling brightly. “Made in Karasuno?”  
“My brother gave it to me,” Kei replied. “Please don’t touch it again.”  
“My bad~!” Oikawa apologized before growing more serious again. “But honestly, if you ever feel like you need our brand of _support,_ I know Shimizu-chan has our line!”  
“Oi!” Iwaizumi shouted.  
“Fuck off,” Kei concurred.  
“Rude, Tsukki-chan!” Oikawa scolded. “I’m trying to be nice!”  
“If you really want to be nice to me, please start by never, ever calling me that again,” Kei retorted, turning away from the third year. Oikawa sighed from behind him.

“You _elites_ and your thing with nicknames! Fine. I’ll call you—“  
“You can just call me ‘Kei,’ if you won’t use my surname,” Kei told him. He could feel Oikawa beaming behind him, and Iwaizumi gave him a grave look. Kei instantly realized his mistake.  
“Kei-chan, then~!” he resolved. Kei sighed and slumped forward a little, only barely turning around to see Oikawa twinkling his fingers innocently at him. Kei felt his face sour.  
“Kei-chan, take good care of Yamaguchi-chan for us, okay?” Oikawa asked, turning away down the hall, Iwaizumi following behind. “See ya at the gate!”

Kei soured even more so at the thought of seeing Oikawa at the gate, so instead he hurried to the changing room and got dressed without rinsing off. He could shower properly at home. As he pulled his track jacket on, Suga appeared beside him.

“Everything okay?”  
“Define ‘okay,’” Kei snapped, zipping up his jacket with far more force than necessary before rolling up his sleeve and trying to re-clamp on Akiteru’s watch. “God damn snipers…”  
“Oh, had a chat with Oikawa-san, did you?” Suga giggled. “I bet I can guess how that went. Kiyoko-san always looks a little bit exhausted after meetings with him.”  
Kei scoffed, still fixated on the watch’s chain. Suga sighed and stooped down to help him.  
“Thanks.”  
“No problem! It’s a clever little thing!” Suga complimented. Kei glanced away.

“Are… you okay?” he asked softly. Suga blinked and stared down at him.  
“Huh?”  
“I saw Yamaguchi on the sidelines. That was your first time getting shocked by him, right? I’m used to it by now, so it doesn’t bother me, but you…”  
“You were worried?” Suga marveled, breaking into a grin. “That’s sweet of you! Yeah, it was kind of jarring at first being able to feel how nervous he was, and trying to control all that static, but I’m okay.”

Kei huffed, and averted his eyes. Suga sighed and stood offering his hand.  
“I mean it, I’m fine. Now, come on. We’ve got a bus to catch.”

Kei stared at the hand for a moment before taking it and getting to his feet, hoisting his gym bag over his shoulder. Yamaguchi appeared at once by his side the moment he stepped out of the changing room, apparently only having calmed down enough to tame the static radiating off him.  
“Calm down,” Kei ordered. “Why were you nervous? It was obvious we were going to win with such a big lead.”  
“B-but you…! And Oikawa-san…!”  
“It’s fine. We won. Let it go.”  
Yamaguchi frowned, but the tension in his shoulders slacked, and Kei knew he’d brighten up by the time they got on the road. 

Unfortunately, as promised, Oikawa was waiting for them at the gate, sprawled out against the brick post as if he were a model instead of a spy, eavesdropping on Daichi discussing their team’s weaknesses with Hinata.  
“If we were to face Seijou head-on with Oikawa,” he was saying. “I think we’d have had a lot more problems.”  
“Ah, spoken like a true Captain!” Oikawa interrupted, straightening up and facing them with his sly grin. Kei hoped his eyes contained enough molten gold in them to burn him from his distance. “You know your stuff.”

“The Grand King makes his entrance!” Hinata suddenly shrieked, hoping instinctively behind Tanaka, who stepped forward to engage their opponent.  
“What’s your problem, dude? You wanna fight?”  
“Wanna fight, huh?!”

Oikawa simply laughed and waved them off.  
“Don’t be so hostile,” he scolded before turning his gaze on Hinata. Kei was certain the shutter going off behind those eyes wasn’t his imagination.

“You, Chibi-chan. Your last one-touch and broad attack were amazing,” Oikawa complimented. “Let’s give it all we’ve got next time, right from the start, yes? You didn’t get to see our setup.”  
His eyes trained to Kei, the same sanguine glint he’d seen in Yahaba glittering behind Oikawa’s shutters as he grinned.

“Oh, yes, and we’ll be improving our serves too,” he challenged. Kei instinctively gripped his forearm, still stinging from those receives. “It’s true, your offense was amazing, but your receives aren’t polished. You’ll reach your limit very quickly.”  
Oikawa started walking through their group, brushing past Kei and stopping.  
“I’m not the only one who hits powerful serves. The inter-high preliminaries are coming up soon,” he said wistfully, “Don’t get eliminated, okay? Because I want to pulverize my dear underclassman, setter-on-setter, in an official match!” Oikawa suddenly turned and pointed accusingly at Kageyama, who returned his grin with a glare.

“The receivers will train!” Hinata piped up, gripping Kei’s sleeve. Kei shook his arm at once, prompting him to release.  
“Receivers don’t improve overnight,” Oikawa reprimanded harshly, brushing past Kei again before turning around. “Ask the captain; he should know. There’s not much time left ‘til the tournament. I look forward to seeing you there.”

They watched him go, Kei feeling the burn from before rising in him again.  
“Don’t let him get to you,” Kageyama stammered out. “He likes to razz people up like that.”

Daichi only grinned.  
“While it’s true that we’re lacking right now. We shouldn’t get too discouraged. After all, _he’s_ coming back soon!”  
“Who’s that?!” Hinata asked.  
“Karasuno’s Guardian Diety!” Daichi responded before ushering everyone onto the bus. Kei wasn’t sure, but he swore he saw Shimizu rolling her eyes at the announcement. Kei decided not to pay it too much mind, and slouched down into his seat beside Yamaguchi, who was busying himself digging out his earbuds so they could both listen to music on the way back. Kei slid his hands into his pockets, only to find that his phone already occupied one of them. He pulled it out, wondering when it had made the jump from his gym bag to his pants before noticing a text message from himself to a number he didn’t recognize.

**xx-xxx-xxxxx**  
Kei-chan!!!!

Kei stared at the offensive words on the screen with his mouth agape in mild horror as he realized the purpose of Oikawa’s earlier proximity. And no sooner did he begin thinking up about a hundred different curses did the chat flicker to life beneath his thumb.

Kei-chan!!! I stole your phone while you weren’t looking~  
_I noticed._  
Don’t be so rude! I’m still trying to be nice to you after all  
_I’m not being rude. I don’t appreciate people taking my things, is all._  
You should practice feeling hands through your pockets, then. On top of your little *problem!!*  
Don’t worry!! I won’t go around opening my mouth~  
_Thank god for that._   
Rude, Kei-chan!!  
_I’m getting Iwaizumi-san’s number from Shimizu._  
NO DON’T DO THAT!!1[]145^!%6 &  
Don’t bother, I’ll text you myself later. Sorry about him.  
_It’s fine. Thank you, Iwaizumi-san._  
Just Iwaizumi is fine.

Kei felt Yamaguchi prodding his ribcage with his elbow. He glanced over to see him offering one of the earbuds and the plug. Kei accepted them, plugged the cord into his phone, and planted the bud in one ear.  
“Who are you texting?” Yamaguchi asked.  
“Nobody important,” Kei replied honestly as his phone vibrated again. He glanced down.

**Oikawa-san**  
Btw, I meant it when I said to call me if you need help!!!  
I’ll always come support my kouhai Kei-chan~

Kei rolled his eyes and opened up the music player, sinking into his chair and letting Yamaguchi lean against his shoulder. Kei rested his head on top of his, and closed his eyes as the bus gunned its engine, returning them home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come talk to me about Haikyuu!! on my blog. I am greenalms on tumblr!! I especially enjoy discussing superhero aus.
> 
> Please leave reviews/critiques!! I said last time that I wanted this to be descriptive practice, but I feel as thought it's very plot/dialogue heavy. Any tips are welcome!!


	3. Charge

Kei learned a lot about his team in the next several weeks. As Daichi had mentioned, it was missing several of its members, each of whom returned at their own pace (Nishinoya’s, of course, being that of a typhoon blasting through the gymnasium at about 300 km per minute, and Asahi’s being that of molasses). Despite himself, Kei found himself interacting with Nishinoya (read as: teasing). The professed “Guardian Deity” of Karasuno had little more to his name than 159 cm and supersonic vocal chords that could probably awaken the dead, and yet he had a habit of responding to Kei like _he_ was the younger brother of the family. 

Well, Kei, _was_ a younger brother, but it still felt weird enough to have his glasses stolen by a short second year. 

About around the same time, Takeda-sensei managed to bully the young owner of the shop down the street from the school, Ukai Kenshin, into becoming their coach via a promise of a practice match with a rival school. And for the second time that semester, Kei found himself pulled aside by his mentor to discuss what to do with Yamaguchi.

“Nekoma Metropolitan High School is the Intelligence Training Academy of the Tokyo Branch,” Suga informed him, stretching out his upper body just outside the gym. “Their agents work closely with myself and Kiyoko. I actually know them pretty well. Kuroo Tetsurou and Yaku Morisuke. They’re both on the volleyball team that will be coming here. Kuroo is actually the captain, now.”

“Do you find it at all strange that _all_ of the Juniors’ Division agents play volleyball?” Kei wondered aloud. “Will I ever not have to worry about any of our opponents?”  
“What can I say? Volleyball is a dynamic sport. It’s popular among agents,” Suga replied. “It’s active enough to help us keep strong, flexible, and agile, but just shy of being overpopularized by the media. Most people only pay attention to the Nationals, which is aired on TV. The only way anyone would risk being compromised is if we were to go pro.”

Kei nodded.

“So what are Kuroo and Yaku like?” he asked, doing a couple of overhead arm-pulls on his own to at least make it look like he was going to practice today. Suga crinkled his brow and gazed upward, a strangled and high-pitched hum buzzing past his lips.

“Well, they call themselves “cats” for a reason,” he answered, “They’re both very observant, in a different way than Oikawa Tooru was. Kuroo is a provocation expert -- that is to say, he’s very good at pointing things out that will get under your skin. Yaku, on the other hand, has kind of a short fuse, but he’s more of a behind the scenes type, like me. They’re both good people, though. Trustworthy. You’ll see when they get here at the end of the week.”

Kei nodded just as Yamaguchi came darting out of the clubroom, apologizing for taking so long. Kei acknowledged only his presence before walking into the gym. While he wasn’t necessarily looking forward to the “Golden Week” training camp, where he’d be forced to spend time with these unnecessary civilians, he was rather anticipatory for the extra time spent with Yamaguchi. He’d be damned if they didn’t get some alone time during this horrorfest. He didn’t enjoy the prospect of meeting Kuroo and Yaku. Snapshot eyes flashing across the court still lingered fresh in his memory. Another provocation master in Kei’s life was the last thing he needed. 

A gentle hand on his back pulled him from his thoughts.  
“Tsukki?” Yamaguchi asked. “Are you okay?”  
“I just can’t believe I have to spend a whole week surrounded by these idiots,” he sighed. Yamaguchi giggled and gave him a sympathetic pat. His fingers seemed to linger on Kei’s back for just a second and Kei noticed. 

“Well, if you need a break, just let me know. I’m sure we can find a way to sneak off and have some privacy. I wouldn’t want you to catch the stupid.”

Kei’s heart practically melted at Yamaguchi’s comment. It wasn’t long before the clubroom was set up as a makeshift dormitory. Hinata, of course, through no real fault of his own, caused trouble almost immediately by screaming at a post-shower Nishinoya, who in turn, started shouting back and getting the attention of Daichi. Kei sighed and shut the door to the room to close out the noise before joining Yamaguchi on their bedrolls. Yamaguchi immediately let out a contented sigh before leaning into his shoulder, having fished out his phone and plugged in the earphones already. He offered Kei one, and they tuned out the room together, zoning into their respective social media sites. Yamaguchi occasionally let out a giggle and offered his screen to Kei to share whatever the joke of the hour was. Kei, on the other hand, alternated between various news browsers and his official Organization profile. There was a training coming up soon that he wouldn’t be able to avoid, and he had to make sure his schedule didn’t coincide with anyone particularly unpleasant.

**Oikawa-san**

Good evening, Kei-chan!  
_What do you want?_  
You know, you should be nicer to your senpai. Especially when your senpai is keeping secrets for you!!! ☆〜（ゝ。∂）  
_What do you want?_  
Have you already signed up for the crisis training?  
_No, I need to coordinate with Suga and Kiyoko-san. We’re doing a training camp this week._  
!!!! Have fun!!!! Destroy your enemies!!!! Practice those receives!!!!!  
I can’t have Kei-chan poorly receiving my serves all through the inter-high.  
_..._  
And don’t worry about the crisis training!  
I just got Kiyoko-chan’s number, so I’ll have her put you in our group for Sunday afternoon °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°  
_Please do not do that._  
I just sent her a message and she replied so I definitely just did that.  
_I loathe you with the entirety of my being._  
Always looking out for you, Kei-chan!!!!! ☆〜（ゝ。∂）

“Who are you talking to?” Yamaguchi asked. Kei startled slightly, and at a glance realized that Yamaguchi’s chocolate brown eyes were wavering with concern, flickering between his face and his barely hidden phone screen. _Shit!_

“Nobody,” he answered. Yamaguchi’s face contorted into a disbelieving grimace. He snorted and reached for it. Kei jerked it out of the way, hastily trying to delete any incriminating evidence.  
“Tsukki!” Yamaguchi complained, still laughing, and climbing over Kei’s lap and reaching still, jerking the earbuds out of both of their ears. “Let me see! You’re obviously lying, you looked like you were gonna murder your phone!”  
“Knock it off, Yamaguchi, it’s not that important.” Kei pressed the strong of his elbow across Yamaguchi’s shoulders, preventing him from moving forward.  
_“Tsukki!!!”_

His knee brushed against Kei’s thigh, and suddenly, a shock coursed through his entire person. Kei dropped his phone and sucked in a breath. Yamaguchi let out a yelp and recoiled at once, rubbing the afflicted appendage. There was a heavy beat of silence that melted on them, choking out any breathable air as Kei watched Yamaguchi process what just happened with blue sparks in his eyes. 

He laughed.  
“Wow, they must not have used these bedrolls in a while if they’re all charged up with static like this!” he stated. Kei let the air out of his lungs and nodded in agreement. “Sorry, Tsukki!”  
“It’s fine,” Kei replied. “If you have to know, I was texting Oikawa Tooru.”  
“Huh? The captain of Aoba Johsai?”  
“Yeah.”  
“Why?”  
“Because he’s a generally terrible person and needs to be reminded about it every now and again.”

There was nothing in the world Kei found more endearing than Yamaguchi snorting when he laughed, except possibly the warmth that Kei found growing in his chest when Yamaguchi clutched his sides and curled, slumping over into Kei’s shoulder. Kei sighed and picked the earbuds up off the floor, offering one to his friend and re-implanting the other in his ear just in time to catch the ending riffs of one of Yamaguchi’s favorite rock songs. Kei scooted himself a little closer to Yamaguchi, trying to make his stiff shoulders and shuddering breath relax before Yamaguchi got suspicious again. 

_It’s fine,_ he told himself, _it was just static. From the bedrolls. It was just a little shock. It wasn’t anything to worry about._

It was a lie, of course. Yamaguchi had likely just given off a charge without meaning to. But it was a lie Kei had to force himself to believe. If it was nothing, then he didn’t have to worry about Yamaguchi developing anytime soon. He could pretend for just a little bit longer that they could stay just like this. 

_It’s nothing._

A new song began, another one of Yamaguchi’s favorites. He sighed, and his eyes fluttered closed as he leaned further into Kei.

_It’s nothing._

Kei prayed that Yamaguchi couldn’t hear his racing heartbeat over the beat of the drums in his ear, or feel it against his soft cheek. He forced himself to take some deep breaths with the rise of the chorus, losing himself in the warm body beside him. Kei leaned his head on Yamaguchi’s, and slowly let his eyes flutter closed.

_It’s nothing._

\------------------------------------------

The infernal squeaking of sneakers on wood was starting to get to him by the second day of practicing. Daichi seemed intent on working them to death during this training camp, so that when Nekoma arrived they’d have little more to do than blow on the net to make the entire team collapse with fatigue. Suga kept breathing down his back, encouraging him to try harder on his drills. Nishinoya continued to mock his pathetic receives. Kei, begrudgingly, started putting slightly more effort into his club activities, just to get them all to shut up.

“My legs feel like they’re going to fall off,” Yamaguchi complained during a break. Kei snorted.  
“That won’t get you on the court any faster.”  
“Tsukki!!!”

He did happen to notice, though, that Yamaguchi had become very interested in practicing serves recently, ever since their practice match against Coach Ukai’s community team. He was hanging around Kageyama, too, talking about jump serves. Knowing that Kageyama was harmless, Kei let him, but kept a fair distance, pretending that it didn’t grate on his nerves. He took a deep breath, reminding himself that he was guaranteed to have some alone time with him after dinner. 

He didn’t get much more time to think on that matter, because Daichi was blowing the whistle again to line up for a 3-on-3. Kei and Kageyama were paired up, and Kei made it his personal mission to make sure he out-blocked Kageyama at every turn. 

At dinner, he decided to tell Suga about Oikawa’s scheme.

“Well, I can’t say I’m surprised,” Suga said with a sigh. “He seemed interested in you at our practice match.”  
“What is that supposed to mean?” Kei asked. Suga shrugged.  
“I don’t know him well enough to say for sure. He’s good at hiding his motives from people he doesn’t want butting in.”  
“Great.”  
“I doubt he means you any real harm, though. Or Yamaguchi for that matter,” Suga assured. “He said he was on our side, right? I don’t see him having any reason to lie about that.”  
“I don’t want to train with him.”  
“Well, I don’t think we have much say in the matter. Kiyoko already agreed to it.”  
_“Ugh.”_  
“Oh, come on, it won’t be that bad!” Suga teased, punching Kei in the shoulder. “Who knows? Maybe it’ll be good for us to get to know the EXSquad a little better.”

Kei went quiet, not in the mood to argue the point. Suga’s face softened.  
“So, can I ask you something?”  
“Depends.”  
“It’s about your family.”  
“No.”

Suga laughed, shoving Kei’s shoulder.  
“Come on, don’t be like that! It’s not anything personal,” he said. Kei sighed and nodded.  
“I’ve never heard of another family that’s entirely in the Organization, at least not in the Tohoku region. How do you all manage?”  
“It’s not that big a deal,” Kei answered. “It’s normal for us. When my parents have an away mission, they used to just put my brother in charge, but now that he travels a lot too, they trust me to look after things on my own. We have safeties all over the house. It’s just how we live.”  
“I guess I can understand that. My family doesn’t know I’m involved. I have to keep so many secrets from them. I think they worry that I’m some kind of delinquent running off all the time,” Suga said with a light giggle. Kei shot him a look.  
“You’re not?”  
“Hey!” he retorted, lightly punching his shoulder. Kei rubbed the spot.  
“Is it hard? You must be alone a lot of the time,” Suga pressed. Kei glanced away towards where Yamaguchi was sitting, joking along with Hinata and Kageyama.  
“No, not really,” he said, not noticing Suga’s smile behind him.

\------------------------------------------

  
**Onii-san**  
Hey! Just wanted to let you know I’m On-Call this weekend.  
_K._  
Let me know if you need anything.  
_K._  
Love you, little bro! 

Getting dragged into an extra practice with the other first years was the lowest priority on his list, but, as Suga mentioned, Daichi was _insisting,_ so he’d have to suck it up for an extra hour.

They practiced serving first, and Kei made sure to tune in on every piece of feedback Kageyama gave to Yamaguchi. It was moronic, and difficult to understand, but Yamaguchi was hanging on every word and Kageyama seemed more than welcome to help. Kei wondered what could have possibly prompted this change of events, seeing as Yamaguchi had never shown much interest in improving his serves before. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but figured Yamaguchi could do whatever he wanted. Besides, it wasn’t like it was completely useless, as Kageyama actually gave all three of them some pretty decent demonstrations and pointers. Kei filed that information away for later. 

For receives, Hinata asked Kiyoko to join them. She ended up being relatively decent at serving herself, and sent balls in every direction for them to try to connect with. Kei laughed every single time Hinata hit his chin on the ground, and the half-disapproving, half-bemused look Yamaguchi sent his way was totally worth it. 

They paired up for blocking practice, and while Kei was loathe to be working with Hinata, he reminded himself to take one for the team and sucked it up. He noticed the way Yamaguchi was eyeing the clock, and then him. He nodded to Yamaguchi in silent agreement. _Twenty more minutes, and then we can go._

“You have to start using your head,” Kei scolded Hinata for the third time. “You’re not tall, so you can’t time your blocks the same way I do. If we jump at the same time, you’re going to miss.”  
“But if I jump sooner, they’ll just go around me!” Hinata complained. “Besides, the whole point of me blocking is just to get a touch, right?”  
“Sure, for now,” Kei countered, “but you have to improve at some point.”  
“Says he who never gives his all!”  
“I give plenty,” Kei growled, his expression darkening, making Hinata shrink. “Just figure it out.”

They tried the drill again. Kei continued to make most of the blocks himself, since Hinata kept running every which way, not listening. The bell rang signaling the time to close the gym. _One last minute._

Yamaguchi tossed the ball up to Kageyama. Kei darted towards the net, zeroing in on the angle of Kageyama’s hand, his eye, judging his speed. He was definitely going to send it left, a straight. He heard the deafening squeak of Hinata’s sneakers hitting the court, heading towards him.

The lights went out. Just for a second. The echo of the switches being shut off pounded in his head and froze his feet to the floor. 

Then they were switched back on, just in time for Hinata to come blazing by him, jump, and hit the block. His triumphant whoop was lost on Kei’s deafened ears, where there was nothing but the roaring wildfire that followed Hinata wherever he went. 

“Sorry!” Tanaka’s voice bounced off the walls behind him. “I thought you guys would be done by now!”  
“Don’t mind! We’re just finishing now!” Yamaguchi answered with a wave, his eyes flicking to where Kei stood, rooted, and darkening with concern. Kageyama noticed, and glanced in between them.  
“Oi, are you okay?” he muttered through the net. “You didn’t jump.”

Kei shook himself back to his senses, glared at Kageyama, and turned away to get the cleaning supplies. He didn’t speak as they put the equipment away, and tried to tune out the mutters of concern Hinata and Kageyama were pestering Yamaguchi with. Yamaguchi reassured them, saying it was probably nothing, don’t worry too much about it. He’s just tired from practicing all night. 

_I’m just tired._

He’d tried to stay up all night to study, and ended up falling asleep at his desk. The smoke alarms woke him up, and he’d smacked his head on the top shelf. He heard sirens in the distance, but it wasn’t until he saw flickering orange and smelled the thick black poison that seeped through his window that he scrambled to his feet and to the door.

Yamaguchi gripped his wrist and squeezed, his warm eyes wavering as he asked silently.

“I’m fine,” Kei murmured. “Just tired.”  
“Do you want to listen to music later?” Yamaguchi asked. Kei nodded. He let Yamaguchi lead him back to the clubroom and into their private corner. Yamaguchi went through his bag, looking for Kei’s noise-cancelling headphones so that Kei wouldn’t have to listen to Hinata run to Suga and Daichi about what just happened. The last thing he needed, really, was his senpai hovering over him too. 

Yamaguchi fit the headphones over his ears and handed his phone to him, smiling. Kei returned half a smile, and settled himself in Yamaguchi’s lap, turning the volume on high. Yamaguchi’s fingers wasted no time in finding his hair, slipping his glasses off his face. Kei shuddered at the feeling of his rough thumb ghosting down his cheek, static trailing behind it. He tried to focus on his breathing instead of his percussive heartbeat, and let the melody drown out the flickering orange in his mind’s eye. 

He’d fallen asleep while studying. He told his mother over the phone that he’d be fine. He was eleven after all, and it was a welcome distraction from the disastrous High School Volleyball Tournament game. At least the worst that could happen here was him falling asleep. 

The smoke alarm woke him up, and he smacked his head hard on the top shelf of his desk, groaning as he rubbed the spot. He felt even more tired than he was before. How much sleep had he gotten? Kei wiped the drool from his mouth, and got up to go turn of his alarm, wondering why it sounded more high pitched than normal. 

He walked by the window, and saw flickering orange below. Kei gasped and did a double take. 

The bottom half of his house was on fire. Viscous black smoke billowed up from the embers, seeping in through the small crack between the sil and the pane. Kei gagged on it as he backed away, pulling the collar of his T-shirt over his face. 

_I’ve gotta get out of here!_

Kei tripped over his backpack on his way to the door, and stopped only to grab his sweatshirt from the closet handle before tumbling out of his bedroom. The smoke alarms were all going off at once at different pitches of piercing. They were only harmonized by the wailing sirens in the distance. Kei headed for the stairs, and saw with horror that the flames had already spread to the entire first floor. Kei looked around, trying to think what his mother and father would do. What would Akiteru--? _No, don’t think about him,_ he scolded himself. _Pathetic._

Akiteru’s bedroom door lay swinging ajar. Kei remembered that his bedroom faced the front lawn. Kei shoved it open, coughing under his T-shirt, and tripping over the trophies and volleyballs that his brother had left scattered on his floor before he left. He somehow made it to the window, the back of his neck prickling at the crackling, groaning wood of the staircase as the flames climbed it. Kei threw open the window and, using all of his strength, wrenched the screen out of its place. It tumbled down into the roaring flames below. Kei felt his eyes watering from the scorching smoke. He blinked past molten tears to try to find a path.

The neighbors had noticed, and were gathering on the other side of the street. Someone had seen him. They were screaming. Kei felt the orange flames licking at his arms and legs. If he didn’t do something fast, he was going to burn up with his house.

Not giving himself time to think, Kei flipped himself out of the window and jumped. He landed on his shoulder, and rolled over himself twice before stopping. He stared up at the house, which was almost entirely engulfed, the crackling and whooshing growing to a deafening roar. Something snapped, and a part of the roof collapsed. Kei yelped and leaped away, burning debris flying towards him. 

Questions flew through his mind. What should he do? Where should he go? He didn’t have a cell phone, he couldn’t even call Mom. Mom and Dad were half a continent away, and Akiteru--

He didn’t hear the footsteps running up behind him until they were almost on top of him. Nor did he see the glint of metal from the treeline, soaring in his direction.

“Kei!”

Kei turned to see his brother stumbling towards him, eyes wide and burning. Akiteru latched onto him, scooped him off the grass, and hurled him over a meter onto the sidewalk. His knee stung as it struck the concrete, and Kei was about to say something rude when he caught the look on Akiteru’s face, wide-eyed and gaunt, just like it had been hours before at the Sendai gym.

The grenade that landed in the lawn exploded. 

Kei lurched forward, ripping the earphones off and tossing them to the side. He gripped his throbbing head, panting, trying to hold back the oncoming sob that was bubbling up his throat. He was painfully aware of the team’s stares on him. His body trembling as he squeezed his eyes shut, trying to stamp the image out of his mind. 

A gentle hand on his back startled him. He turned to see Yamaguchi there, pulling him back.

“Tsukki, let’s go outside,” he suggested. Kei sighed and nodded, following his friend out the door. 

The cool night air sent a shiver down Kei’s back, contrast to the heat from before. Yamaguchi’s gentle hand stayed between his shoulders, rubbing small circles into his oversensitive skin. For a while they stood there letting the breeze fill the silence. 

“You were dreaming about the fire again, weren’t you?” Yamaguchi asked. Kei sighed.  
“Every now and again it comes back, clear as the day it happened,” he said. “I wake up just like I did then, get out, and watch my brother get his lower half burned off. Then I wake up.”

Yamaguchi leaned into his arm and nuzzled against him.  
“I’m sorry.”  
“It’s not your fault. It can’t be helped.”  
“When was the last time?” Yamaguchi asked.  
“The first day of club,” Kei answered. Yamaguchi gripped his arm and back, pressing himself closer. 

“It still seems so unreal to me,” Yamaguchi said. “That whole thing. Who would set fire to your house like that?”  
“Who knows?” Kei replied. “They never found out who did it.”

It wasn’t a lie. The Organization was never able to pinpoint the arsonists. The grenade had only traced back to a weapons manufacturer in Moscow. And Akiteru never remembered who he saw in the trees. 

“Hey, remember coming to stay with us after?” Yamaguchi said suddenly, smiling brightly at him. “My mom made spicy _udon_ the first night and you cried?”  
“I didn’t cry.”  
“Yes, you did!” Yamaguchi exclaimed, playfully smacking his shoulder. “You cried because it was hot, and it gave you a flashback. My mom was so embarrassed. To this day she says she’ll never live it down.”

Kei let himself chuckle. Yamaguchi Mitsuki was a gem of a woman. 

“I remember building that huge fort in your living room that weekend,” Kei said. “We moved the _kotatsu_ and set up every chair in the house.”  
“My dad was furious because we took his favorite reading chair!” Yamaguchi laughed. “But we couldn’t make it big enough without it because you’d grown so tall!”  
“Yeah. I don’t even think you could fit under the chairs in your house anymore.”

Yamaguchi snorted when he laughed, and Kei’s heart fluttered. Yamaguchi linked their arms and leaned over the railing beside him.

“Wanna come over on Saturday after the Training Camp is over?” he asked. “We can build a fort again.”

Kei smiled.

“I’d like that.”

\------------------------------------------

Kei considered himself lucky that the only people who asked about his abnormal behavior were Kageyama and Suga, and at least Kageyama would be fine with a sarcastic answer. Suga, on the other hand, went wide-eyed.

“Really?!”  
“Yeah. Destroyed the whole thing. It took the Organization over a week to relocate us. I stayed with Yamaguchi during that time.”  
“Jeez, I can’t imagine,” he breathed, putting a hand to his chest. “What happened to your brother?”  
“He’s alive,” Kei answered. “But his legs were burned beyond all hope. He’s been in a wheelchair ever since.”

Suga pressed a hand over his mouth, and averted his gaze to the floor. 

“I mean, I knew it could always happen one day, but…”  
“What? Did you think they’d reconsider because there was a child inside?”  
“Well, _yeah…”_  
“Suga, I really don’t think our enemies give a damn about the ages of the bodies they drop,” Kei said flatly, making Suga flinch.

He didn’t press the issue, only continued with their warm up stretches for the day.

\------------------------------------------

They were woken up early Saturday morning to set up the gym and go through a few last-minute exercises before their guests arrived. Kiyoko seemed to be running around even more so than the team, and Suga explained that the head coach of Nekoma was also a retired Organization veteran. Kei’s frown soured at the thought.

They’d come up with a plan the night before. If Yamaguchi seemed too excited during the match, Suga would inform Ukai that he looked feverish and remove him from the gymnasium, hopefully before the Tokyo agents noticed. Suga insisted that Kuroo and Yaku weren’t dangerous, that they’d be more than understanding, but Kei insisted on having a backup plan for his own peace of mind. It didn’t help that he received a string of text messages from Oikawa Tooru that morning wishing him luck, hoping he destroyed his enemies, and looking forward to seeing him tomorrow.

Their bus arrived at exactly 9:04 am. Daichi called them to line up to meet their apparent rivals. 

The first thing he noticed was red. Not quite the red of carnage, but a softer red, the pleasant kind that women liked in flowers. The second thing he noticed was their eyes. All of Nekoma’s players had a wily look in them, like they were constantly plotting something. Kei narrowed his eyes at the Nekoma first year he was lined up against. Some useless civilian, though with a side glance down the line, it wasn’t hard to pick out the alleged Kuroo Tetsurou from the lineup. His dark hair flew up one side of his head, almost resembling a rooster tail, and Kei couldn’t quite tell if it was intentional or not. He had a smirk plastered against his face and a yellow glint in his eye as he sized up Daichi and Suga. The other agent, Yaku, stood out as the smaller libero, with neat, strawberry-blond hair that didn’t quite match the sour expression he wore. Kei kept his hand thrust into his pockets, so as not to give away how much his fingers were fidgeting in his fists.

And though he really should be used to it by now, he startled a bit when Hinata was the first to make a scene.

“K-Kenma?!” He screeched at a smaller boy on the Nekoma side who had seemingly dyed his hair blond in the past but never bothered to maintain it. A second glance comparing him to the rest of the line, and Kei determined that if anyone was to look more like a cat, they would have had to grow ears and a tail. Kei raised half an eyebrow in Hinata’s direction, taking in the look of horror on his face. 

“You go to Nekoma?!” Hinata cried. “Why didn’t you tell me?”  
“Because you didn’t ask…” the boy, Kenma, murmured back. How the Hell those two knew each other was a mystery to Kei, but not one he figured he needed to solve. The two lines greeted each other and dispersed, Daichi leading the guest team into the gym to show them where to put their things. Kei lingered behind, catching Kiyoko’s eye as she beckoned him over. Sighing, he complied, heading over to where she, Ukai, Takeda-sensei, and an elderly man were hovering around some bags. Ukai and sensei were already making themselves useful and walking away, so it was easy for Kiyoko to slide in closer.

“Nekomata-san?” she interrupted quietly. The old man glanced up as she bowed politely. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Shimizu Kiyoko.”  
“Ah, so you are the daughter Shimizu spoke of,” Nekomata greeted with a smile. “The pleasure is mine, young lady. I hear you are a very responsible head for this region’s Junior’s branch. I’m sure your father is quite pleased.”  
“Thank you, Nekomata-san, but I am still learning myself,” Kiyoko dismissed. The elderly man hummed his approval before turning to him.  
“And who is this young man?”  
“Tsukishima Kei,” he introduced himself, also bowing politely. Nekomata hummed again.  
“Another familiar name! I used to train your father before he moved out to the country,” he stated, clapping Kei on the shoulder.  
“If there’s anything you need, Nekomata-san, please don’t hesitate to ask,” Kiyoko offered.  
“I’ll be sure to let Kuroo know. He’s got a good head on his shoulders. Tsukishima, you seem like a strong boy. If you wouldn’t mind helping with the rest of these bags?”  
“Of course.”

He could feel Nekomata-san’s eyes following him into the gym, and silently cursed Kiyoko for introducing them.

Once inside, he found that everyone else seemed to be getting on about as well as you would expect. Tanaka had apparently found his second half in a Nekoma second-year called Yamamoto Taketora. The two immediately began talking smack, and earned themselves quick scoldings from Suga and Yaku respectively. Once the wild dogs had been sufficiently punished, they turned to each other, greeting the other warmly and exchanging more furtive greetings with their eyes. 

And then there was Daichi over there, dealing with--

“We’re looking forward to our match today,” Kuroo Tetsurou was saying with an easy smile that looked so plastic, Oikawa Tooru would have been jealous.  
“We’re looking forward to it as well,” Daichi replied, returning his own polite smile. The two were gripping each other’s hands so hard Kei thought one of them might shatter. What an interesting turn of events that would be. 

None of them were paying attention to Yamaguchi yet, so Kei allowed himself to take a small breath. 

“Nervous?” Yamaguchi asked, coming up behind him. He shook his head.  
“Not really,” he answered. “Have you been watching these guys? It’s kind of pathetic.”  
“Tanaka-san looks even more rabid than usual,” Yamaguchi agreed with a giggle. “It’s weird to see someone else that’s on his wavelength.”  
“Daichi looks like he’s trying to rip off Kuroo’s hand.”  
“Did you see Hinata at the front gate? He looked like he was going to seize up from seeing their setter!”

“Tsukishima! Yamaguchi!” Suga suddenly called, waving him over to where he was standing with Yaku. Kei looked to Yamaguchi, who shrugged and followed him over to where the two older boys were waiting. Kei’s eyes instantly turned to ice on Suga, who waved it off, turning to the boy beside him. 

“Yaku-san, these are two of our first years, Tsukishima Kei and Yamaguchi Tadashi,” Suga introduced, his eyes flitting back and forth in code that Yaku seemed to understand. The libero grinned and stepped forward.  
“Nice to meet you both. Yaku Morisuke, I’m a third-year.”  
“Nice to meet you, Yaku-san!” Yamaguchi greeted, shaking his hand firmly. Kei couldn’t bring himself to move, still glaring Suga down from where he was rooted to the floor. Suga, simply smiled back at him, taking half a step back. 

“Don’t mind Tsukki, he’s not good with people!” Yamaguchi was apologizing for him. Kei’s eyes flicked to him, and he opened his mouth to snap. Before he could, Yaku dismissed it with a wave.  
“Oh, trust me, I know what that’s like. It’s nothing to worry about. What positions are you?”

A loaded question if Kei ever heard one.

“We’re both middle blockers! But only Tsukki is a starter…”  
“Shut up, Yamaguchi,” Kei huffed, causing Yamaguchi to tense up and retreat.  
“Sorry, Tsukki!”  
“Oh? Well, I guess we’ll be going up against each other then!” Yaku continued, meeting Kei’s cold eyes with a challenge.  
“I guess so.”

Yaku suddenly broke off their staredown, looked around Kei and sighed.  
“I think we’ll have to catch up later, Sugawara, I need to go make sure my Captain isn’t being a jackass.”  
Suga giggled.  
“Yes, I suppose you’d better,” he agreed. “Yamaguchi, do you want to go see if Kiyoko needs any more help setting up before we do warmups?”  
“Sure!”

Yaku and Yamaguchi dispersed in opposite directions, leaving Kei to glower more openly.

“What the _fuck_ -?”  
“Oh, I don’t think I’ve ever heard you curse like that before, Tsukishima. You shouldn’t make a habit of that,” Suga scolded.  
“Care to explain _why_ you just introduced Yamaguchi to that guy?”  
“Because it’s polite?”

Kei’s glare hardened to stone. Suga responded with a cold grimace that shook Kei’s core.

“Oh, stop that! This isn’t like us versing the EXSquad. Yaku and Kuroo are my _friends!_ We can trust them.”  
“Maybe you can,” Kei grumbled. “I don’t want anybody unnecessary coming close to him. There’s nothing good that can come out of that.”  
“Tsukishima, there’s no harm in letting him _meet people,”_ Suga scolded with ice in his voice. “I thought you wanted him to have a normal life? Usually that includes introducing oneself to guests.”

Kei clenched his fists.

“Unless what you really meant is that you just want to keep him for yourself?”

Kei felt his blood boil. He scoffed and turned, storming away from Suga and making his way outside of the gym. The air was getting stuffy anyway. 

_He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He just doesn’t get it. He doesn’t know Yamaguchi’s situation like I do._

“Oh? Pressure’s getting to you already?”

Kei jumped and turned with one elbow up, just in case. This earned him a sort of bemused snort from one Kuroo Tetsurou, who was leaning against the door frame. Kei glared him down.

“Paranoid, aren’t you?” he noted offhandedly. Kei seethed.  
“I’m not paranoid.”  
“Oh, right, of course. Just cooling off, right?” Kuroo guessed, leaning over and grinning at him. “Although, it’s probably for the best.”  
“What does that mean?”  
“I’m just saying, you should clear your head if you need to,” Kuroo said. “Calm down, you know? I mean, it’s _just_ a practice match, after all. We should be doing it cheerfully, just for fun!”

The words stabbed through Kei’s heart. Kuroo tilted his head to one side, then, realizing he wasn’t going to get a response, shrugged and turned away.

“Eh, I guess we’ll have to talk more later. You should hurry up though, we’re starting soon.”

Kei pressed himself against the wall of the gymnasium, his blood still simmering underneath his skin. He willed the wall to warp underneath him to make it more comfortable, as if that was possible for metal. He tried to breathe slowly. He filtered his brain for something, anything that would make this situation okay for him. 

_It’s just a club,_ he reminded himself. _This is just a club. Kuroo is right. Calm down. It’s just a club._

“Oi, Tsukishima!”

Kei looked up to see Hinata smiling at him.

“You know, when I get nervous, I usually have to go to the bathroom.”  
“I’m not nervous,” Kei said with a grimace. “Don’t compare us.”  
Hinata pointed at him accusingly.  
“Don’t pretend! I saw you get all stiff earlier! It’s okay to say you’re just like everyone else-”

Kei leaned off the wall and pressed down on the top of Hinata’s head, which caused him to make an interesting squawking noise. 

“I’m fine. Let’s just play.”  
He slipped back into the gymnasium in time for the warmups, ignoring Suga’s meaningful stares at the side of his head in favor of listening to Daichi give them a practical pre-game speech. He lined up with the rest of the team, feeling his and Yamaguchi’s hearts pounding beside each other. 

“Let’s play!”

He was out on the back line to start, between Kageyama and Asahi. Kei considered himself lucky, as he wasn’t directly staring down anybody, and he wasn’t looking forward to having Yaku or Kuroo’s eyes on him just yet. Hinata was in front, and exchanged some words with a taller Nekoma first year that reminded him a little bit of an excitable puppy. Kei smiled at the irony.

The whistle blew. The smaller boy with the dyed hair that Hinata knew, Kenma, was the first to serve. He didn’t do anything flashy or special, just a regular serve with not a lot of power behind it. An easy receive, even for him if it had been aimed that way. As it was, he let Asahi take it and send it back, just shy of where it needed to go.

“Sorry, it’s a little short!” Asahi called.  
“That’s what you get for ditching a month!” Nishinoya scolded teasingly from the sidelines. Kei stayed rooted to his spot. He knew what was coming. Kageyama ran to cover the receive.

Kei inhaled slowly, diverting his attention sideways as Hinata exploded from the sidelines and flew to the other end of the net, trailing orange flames behind him. He jumped and hit all at once, and the ball shot directly past Kenma’s two-toned head. The beat of silence in the gymnasium was deafening, and then gone, all at once, just like at Seijou.

“Amazing speed. What the…”  
“A fast attack from a place like that?!”  
“What the heck was that?” Nekomata was complaining from the sidelines. “He wasn’t watching the toss.”

He switched out with Nishinoya for the next point, which Asahi gained thanks to Hinata’s decoy. When he switched back in, he overheard Nishinoya give a grave warning under his breath to Suga.

“Their libero is trouble.”

Kei’s eyes flicked over to where Yaku stood on the court, smiling warmly at his teammates. Suga had called him a “short fuse,” but he seemed just as calm and pleasant as the Vice-Captain himself. Kei wondered what Nishinoya had seen in him that Kei had missed. The thought made his pulse pound against his skull and his shoulders stiffen. He kept his eyes trained on Yaku.

As the game went on, it became more apparent. They didn’t have any geniuses like Kageyama, or flashy attacks like Hinata. Nekoma was good because they all connected to one another. They moved like they were one being, and had an excellent workflow. Yaku was clearly their best receiver, and the pinnacle of their defense. They slowly worked up points that way, between Yaku’s receives and the team’s blocks.

The team’s blocks. 

Kei had never felt an overwhelming desire to be a good blocker. Sure he was a good blocker, thanks to his height and his ability to read plays, but since _that day,_ since Akiteru betrayed him, and the fire that burned off his spirit, Kei never felt the need to be a _good_ blocker. 

But right now, he was staring down Kuroo Tetsurou - who was flashing a toothy, jeering grin at him - and attributed every nerve that was shorting in him to the fact that he was a personal first-hand witness to a _great_ blocker. And it was the most infuriating thing Kei had ever experienced.

Nekoma called the first time out. 

“You guys are doing great!” Yamaguchi praised while Kei took a swig of his water bottle. Kei nodded and glanced over to the Nekoma side. Despite the fact that they were behind, they didn’t look shaken. In fact, they looked pretty confident. 

Kuroo glanced up from their huddle, and flashed him a grin. Kei stared back with bitterness twitching at his mouth.

 _I feel like I’m being watched,_ he thought with a shudder. Play resumed, and it became apparent that Nekoma had switched up their strategy. The first year that looked like a puppy kept dogging Hinata, and Kenma was beginning to show that he had more in his repertoire than a good toss.

Kei kept a close eye on him, particularly after he scored with a feint. He felt Kenma’s yellow eyes analyzing him. He had a sneaking suspicion that he didn’t want to voice, but pushed it away in favor of the game. Kenma looked right, he moved. Kenma shot left. Kei froze up and glared. He’d been watching. He’d noticed that Kei was watching him. They were on the same level. It was irritating as _fuck._

And it only kept being irritating as Nekoma kept marking Hinata. Ukai didn’t bother switching him out for reasons beyond Kei’s comprehension. 

“I’ll figure it out!” Hinata promised. “I used to be afraid of blocks, but now that I see that guy in front of me, I just feel excited. I’ll get it! One more!”

He didn’t. Instead, Nekoma’s #7 caught him. The first set was over. 

“How annoying,” Kei muttered.  
“Well, it’s not as nerve-wracking as the match with Seijou was,” Yamaguchi mused, coming up beside him. “Sure it’s troublesome, but I think it’s interesting to see us against a team so fundamentally different from ours.”  
“They’re not fundamentally different. They’re just somewhat different. Their attack and defense is solid because they can connect to one another so well. We all just rally around Kageyama. They’re clearly better than us.”  
“You seem like you’re in a better mood though.”  
“Not really. Their team is irritating.”

Well, mostly just Kuroo, with his _perfect, exceptionally timed_ attacks that were accompanied by his _exhausting, flawlessly executed_ blocks and that stupid grin that would haunt Kei’s dreams the next five nights, but the whole team was irritating as well.

Kei felt slightly better after shutting out Nekoma’s #7 and hearing Yamaguchi cheering for him. Kei’s eyes flicked to Yaku first, then Kuroo. Neither seemed to pay the cheer any mind. And It didn’t change the fact that they were probably going to lose. 

They lost. They lost six times to Nekoma. Kei’s nerves were frazzled to the point of death, as neither Kuroo or Yaku seemed to be acknowledging his or Yamaguchi’s presence outside of sending him cautious, cold stares every now and again. However, everyone else seemed to be getting on just fine. Nekoma’s #7, who Kei finally learned was called Inuoka Sou, and Hinata were apparently now best friends, along with Kozume Kenma. Yaku and Suga were chatting amicably in the corner while Tanaka and Taketora, appeared to be comparing muscle size on the court. 

“I suppose it couldn’t be helped,” Yamaguchi said, sitting down next to him. “You were right, they’re just better than us.”  
“We’ll beat them eventually.”  
Yamaguchi laughed, earning him a dark look from Kei.

“Sorry, it’s just funny when you say it!”  
“Ah, Tsukishima, right?”

Kei and Yamaguchi looked up to see Kuroo Tetsurou looming over them. Yamaguchi tensed up immediately beside him, intimidated by the guy’s height. Kei squeezed his hand to calm him. 

“Yes?”  
“Sorry if I’m interrupting. I was hoping to talk to you earlier, but you were… preoccupied. I hope you don’t mind?”

He did, but Yamaguchi was already getting up. 

“Oh, sure, sorry, don’t mind me!” he said. “I’ll wait for you outside, okay, Tsukki?”  
“Yeah.”

Kuroo watched Yamaguchi leave.  
“He’s peppy.”  
“Don’t.”  
“So you’re still feeling paranoid, then?” Kuroo asked. “I was hoping the matches would loosen your asshole a little.”

Kei glared up at the third-year, who seemed just fine planting his butt right where Yamaguchi had been sitting a moment before. Kei slid to his left, not wanting to be in close proximity to such an unpleasant person. 

“You know, Suga told us that you didn’t want us around.”  
“Did he now?” Kei grumbled.  
“It’s fine, I’m not offended,” Kuroo waved off. “You don’t have to be so pretentious about it though. I’d feel the same way if one of my friends was is in the position yours is.”  
“I’m not pretentious,” Kei defended. Kuroo laughed.  
“Pretentious and a shitty liar,” he amended. “I knew coming to talk to you would be entertaining.”

Kei didn’t think it was possible for his soul to curdle any faster inside of him. 

“What do you want from me?” he asked.  
“Honestly? We just wanted to meet you,” Kuroo said. “Yaku and I have been friends with Suga for a long time. We work differently, but we’ve never had issues with each other. We were pretty excited when he told us about you. So I’m honestly a little confused as to why you’re being so hostile.”  
“I’m _not-”_  
“Sure, right, of course,” Kuroo interrupted, rolling his eyes. “I guess it’s a moot point then. We’ll just have to wait and see.”  
“What does that mean?”  
“Huh? Oh, Yaku and I decided to stay overnight and go to the Crisis training here in Miyagi instead of losing sleep travelling with the team back to Tokyo. Nekomata made up an excuse for us, so it’s totally fine.”  
“Great.”  
“I heard this region’s trainee EXSquad is also going to be there.”  
“Unfortunately.”  
“Oho? What’re they like?”  
“As a whole? Extremely dangerous. Their Captain is insufferable.”

Kuroo sighed and laughed as he got to his feet.  
“I guess it must be an EXSquad thing, then. Ours is exactly the same. Well, looking forward to seeing you in the field then, Tsukki.”  
“Don’t call me that.”  
“Why not? Your friend does.”  
“He’s the only one.”

Kuroo raised a brow and smirked  
“Oho? Is that the case? Well, okay then. Looking forward to tomorrow. Good night!”

Kei watched him go, his stomach doing uncomfortable flips as he did. It was only after the Nekoma team was completely out of sight that he made his way to the clubroom to get changed and pack his things. He said goodnight to Suga and Daichi out of formality alone before stepping out.

Yamaguchi was humming while he leaned against the front gate. He perked up when he saw Kei approach.

“There you are! You were slower than usual.”  
“So?” Kei retorted. Yamaguchi blinked once and quieted immediately. Kei turned his frown towards the pavement.  
“I got distracted,” he amended. Yamaguchi nodded, fingers drumming on the strap of his gym bag. His eyes darted everywhere but his direction for a moment.

“What’d Kuroo want?” he asked hesitantly. Kei felt his stomach churn. He scoffed and started walking.  
“Tsukki?”  
“Just drop it, Yamaguchi,” Kei snapped. Yamaguchi recoiled and wilted behind him as they headed down the sidewalk.  
“Sorry, Tsukki.”

Kei instinctively glanced down the street in the direction Nekoma’s bus had departed earlier. Yamaguchi followed his gaze, his eyes flicking between the horizon and Kei. Sucking in a breath, he straightened up and looped his arm around Kei’s, forcing a smile onto his face.

“Come on! My mom’s already making dinner!” he encouraged. Kei didn’t respond, but allowed his friend to pull him along in the direction of his house.

\------------------------------------------

The Yamaguchi household was tucked away in a tiny cul-de-sac near the edge of town. It had a decent backyard that was lined by the woods, and Yamaguchi’s father had the sense years ago to build a privacy fence around the sides to block out the nosy neighbors. Yamaguchi’s mother’s prized flower garden was starting to bud pink on the left side of the house. Soon it would be in full bloom and Yamaguchi’s mother would be out constantly, watering and weeding with the same faded blue tools Yamaguchi had bought her once for her birthday six years ago.

They came in, and Yamaguchi announced their presence, pulling off his shoes. Kei called out as well, quieter, pulling off his sneakers and stepping into the guest slippers they had specifically for him. 

“Oh? Kei-kun is here too!” Yamaguchi’s mother responded from the kitchen.  
“Mom, I told you he was coming!” Yamaguchi complained, dropping his bag by the stairs. He darted into the room and greeted his parents, Kei hanging back in the doorway. His father looked up from his laptop and smiled at them both.  
“Good to see you again, Kei,” he greeted. Kei bowed stiffly in response.  
“Thank you for having me over again.”  
“Of course! Any time. You know that!”

“What’s for dinner?” Yamaguchi was asking, hovering over his mother’s stove, while she pressed a kiss to his temple.  
“Oh, come now, Tadashi! Be patient!” his mother scolded with a laugh in her voice. “It’s a chicken curry. It’ll be done in twenty minutes.”  
“We’ll be ready!” Yamaguchi promised before darting back out and pulling Kei up the stairs. “Come on, Tsukki, let’s get changed.”

Kei keeping his own sets of clothes at Yamaguchi’s house had never been intentional. It had just become a thing after Kei lived with the family. He always had at least a week’s worth of clothes in Yamaguchi’s drawers, just as Yamaguchi had a week's worth of his clothing in Kei’s closet. The two pulled off their sweaty, smelling practice gear and tossed them into Yamaguchi’s hamper, and Yamaguchi offered him the shower first. Kei spent the entire ten minutes thinking about Yaku’s friendly smile and Kuroo’s blase dismissal of him. Suga’s unnatural cold shoulder. Kuroo had a point. They hadn’t made any overt moves at the practice match. They were Suga’s friends. Doubt began to settle in his lungs with the steam. Was he being too harsh?

 _They're just like all the other Organization agents,_ he thought. _They can't be trusted._  
_They’re Suga’s friends._  
_That doesn't make them **your** friends._  
_It doesn't make them enemies either._

He sighed as he stepped out of the hot water, grabbing a towel and patting himself down. Kuroo and Yaku hadn't given him any of the bad vibes Oikawa and Yahaba had at their practice match. They hadn’t paid much attention to Yamaguchi, which surprised him. They'd been nothing but cordial and polite to him when they'd talked, even after he’d been rude. Even Nekomata had seemed genuinely pleased to meet him. Him, not Yamaguchi, who was far more important. 

Suga had accused him of hoarding Yamaguchi. Kuroo had tried to empathize with him and he'd pushed him away. The point was to give Yamaguchi a normal life. He should be allowed to meet people, regardless of whether or not the Organization was there to supervise him. Kei ran his hand through his hair, tugging at the locks. His racing thoughts were starting to get ahead of him. Kiyoko, Suga, Yaku, Kuroo. Even Oikawa Tooru. He was a piece of shit, but he'd still offered to help Kei in a pinch. And Kei had given him the cold shoulder too, without Yamaguchi’s approval or knowledge. Kiyoko’s words echoed in Kei’s mind.

_What if he chooses this? What if he chooses them?_

Yamaguchi knocked on the door.

“Tsukki? Are you almost done?” he called. Kei wrapped the towel around his waist and pulled the door open, hyperaware of the way the blur of Yamaguchi’s eyes flicked down his chest before meeting his face. Heat swelled in his cheeks.

“Sorry, I was thinking,” Kei admitted, stepping aside to let Yamaguchi into the bathroom. Yamaguchi tilted his head.

“Oh? About what?”  
“Nothing important,” Kei dismissed, stepping out of the bathroom and running a hand through his hair. He paused just before entering the bedroom, still feeling Yamaguchi’s timid, chocolate gaze on his back. He didn’t like the tense feeling in the air between them. Yamaguchi was supposed to be able to do whatever he wanted, not have to wait around for him. 

“Yamaguchi.” Yamaguchi yelped and gripped the doorframe for support, his face flushing red.  
“Y-yeah?! S-sor-”  
“What did you think of Nekoma?” Kei asked. Yamaguchi paused, still gripping the doorframe.

“What do you mean?”  
“What do you think of them?”  
“As… a team?” Yamaguchi guessed, averting his gaze in thought. “Well, I mean, I guess-”  
“No, just, what do you think of them,” Kei corrected. “As people.”  
“Oh. Well, I thought they were really similar to us on and off the court. They were all really nice too, and I feel like we could be good friends with them if we continued to meet up.”

Kei clicked his tongue and sneered over his shoulder.  
“What?” Yamaguchi defended.  
“That’s too generous of you, Yamaguchi. They’re supposed to be rivals.”  
“Well, they can be friends and rivals at the same time, then!” Yamaguchi countered. Kei snorted and shook his head, feeling the air between them warm a bit. 

“Why do you ask?” Yamaguchi pressed, a hesitant smile in his voice.  
“No reason, I was just wondering.”  
“Oh… okay.”

He paused for just a second, and then stepped into the bathroom and shut the door. Kei walked into the bedroom and waited to hear the shower head start spitting before letting out his breath. He quickly changed into more comfortable sweatpants and a t-shirt before putting on his glasses and digging around his bag for his phone.

  
**Suga**  
_I'm sorry._  
????????  
_I'm sorry for my behavior at training camp._  
_You were right. I was being needlessly overbearing and rude._  
:3  
I knew Yamaguchi would talk some sense into you one way or another. I should thank him!!!  
_... please don't patronize me, Suga-san_  
:333  
It's okay, we still love u even if ur a grump all the time.  
I'm not the one u should be apologizing to.  
Just so u know.  
_Yeah. I know._  
_Also I'm not a grump._  
Ofc.  
You're a fucking delight.  
_......_  
See u @ Dateko tomorrow!!!! 3 pm sharp!!!

\------------------------------------------

When Kei was eleven, his house was attacked by enemies of the state and burned to the ground. And because his parents had been in China on an assignment, with Akiteru in the hospital, Kei was sent to live with the Yamaguchi family for two weeks while the Organization found the Tsukishimas a new house.

Kei found that living with a normal family was a lot different than living with an Organization one. For starters, Yamaguchi Mitsuki stayed home all the time, cooking, cleaning, doing errands, and occasionally volunteering at various local charities. Kei had initially thought she was secretly a wizard because of how amazing her cooking was, and how she just always seemed to be _there,_ even when Kei thought she really shouldn't be.

Yamaguchi Takeshi worked as an accountant for a local bank, and seemed to work just enough hours to be home for dinner every day, and see Yamaguchi off in the mornings. It was off-putting, at first, to see them both around all the time. Eventually, he learned that it was his family that was the unusual one, not the other way around. 

Still, Kei could never offer up much more of an explanation for the cooking, which continued to be just as Heavenly as he remembered. He watched Yamaguchi wolf down two full portions with vigor and a smile, much to the delight of his mother.

“Is it to your liking, Kei-kun?” she asked him. “You both must be just famished after working so hard at training camp all week!”  
“Yes, your food is always good,” Kei praised, making Yamaguchi’s mother glow with pride.  
“Always so polite! Help yourself to as much as you'd like!”  
“Hey, Dad, can we use the chairs and the _kotatsu_ into the living room tonight?” Yamaguchi asked.  
“Huh? Why?” Yamaguchi’s father asked. Seeing the look on his son’s face, he sighed. “Tadashi, don't you think you and Kei are a little old for things like that?”  
“Please??” Yamaguchi begged.  
“We'll clean everything up afterwards,” Kei promised. Yamaguchi’s father sighed.  
“I suppose…”  
“Thanks, Dad!!!” Yamaguchi exclaimed, spilling some of his curry onto the table and into his lap. Kei snorted and covered his mouth with the back of his hand to cover up his laughter as Yamaguchi’s mother gave him a scathing look. Yamaguchi flushed scarlet and rushed to clean up before it stained anything. 

Kei’s offer to help with the dishes was turned down, and he was dismissed to the living room while Yamaguchi assisted his parents. Kei busied himself by carrying Yamaguchi’s father's favorite sitting chair over to the sofa and propping the back against the sofa’s arm. He then carried in another chair to the other side before going up to the bedroom and carrying down Yamaguchi’s two favorite blankets (he claimed he couldn't live with less than four, and owned about ten). Yamaguchi joined him as he was considering how best to prop up the space between the two chairs over the sofa, running in and latching onto his arm with an eager smile.

“It feels like we're kids again, doesn't it?” Yamaguchi asked. Kei shrugged.  
“We’re still kids.”  
“You know what I mean!” Yamaguchi scolded him, smacking his shoulder with one hand. “Let’s use the seat cushions to prop the blankets up!”

He let Yamaguchi arrange their makeshift fort how he liked, and helped him drape the blankets over cushions and chairs. They dragged over the _kotatsu_ and plugged it in, arranging themselves underneath. Shielded from prying eyes and outside air, the space between them warmed quickly. Kei felt himself relax against the sofa as Yamaguchi pulled up a movie and closed the gap between them, leaning his head against Kei’s chest. Kei instinctively wrapped an arm around him, resting his head against the softness of Yamaguchi’s hair. Yamaguchi hummed contentedly as Kei began to rub small circles into his hip. They entertained themselves commentating on poor acting and cinematography, which had Yamaguchi shaking with laughter in his arms.

As the movie droned on and their commentary died down, Kei found himself paying less attention to it, and more to the even breath of the boy on his chest. Yamaguchi had curled around him somewhat, and seemed to be paying very little attention to the screen in favor of staring down Kei’s free hand in his lap. His fingers twitched slightly. Kei noticed his cheeks redden, and his brown eyes start to waver. 

Kei glanced down at his hand. Yamaguchi’s was only centimeters from it and seemed itching to get closer. Kei entertained his worry about overstepping boundaries for all of an instant before his suddenly daring, throbbing heart spurred the free hand sideways. He scooped up Yamaguchi’s trembling fingers, and intertwined them in his own, earning him an endearing whimper from Yamaguchi. 

Kei leaned forward and raised an eyebrow at him. His cheeks had flushed to a deep red, his freckles showing dark atop his glowing skin. Yamaguchi’s eyes faltered and met his, quaking with nerves. Kei let himself breathe. He smiled and gave Yamaguchi’s hand a light squeeze before reclining back again. He glanced back at Yamaguchi, who was now staring openly at him. Kei kept his expression steady until he saw Yamaguchi’s shoulders slack. He squeezed Kei’s hand back, and smiled warmly before returning to his place on Kei’s chest. Kei felt a pleasant tingle pass through him as he felt Yamaguchi press himself closer than before.

Kei alternated tracing imaginary circles into Yamaguchi’s hip and his knuckles, eager to draw out more of Yamaguchi’s pleased humming from him. As he continued, he noticed Yamaguchi’s breath become labored. His eyes started to feel heavy under the heat of the fort. Kei sucked in a reluctant breath, and turned the television off.

“Yamaguchi,” he prompted, shifting his shoulder slightly to rouse him. Yamaguchi whined in protest, nuzzling closer into Kei. Kei felt his face and neck grown hot. He was loathe to move, but knew that if they didn't, it would cause more trouble than it was worth.

“Yamaguchi, come on, let's go upstairs.”  
“Noooooo, don't wanna,” Yamaguchi protested groggily. Kei snorted and started jostling him harder. Yamaguchi swatted at him and turned his body to splay himself horizontal across Kei’s lap. Yamaguchi huffed triumphantly.

“There. You're not allowed to move,” he decreed. Kei quirked a brow and smirked, leaning forward and wrapping his arms underneath Yamaguchi as if to lift him. Yamaguchi, sensing this, yelped and sat up in Kei’s lap, wrapping his arms tightly around Kei’s neck in anticipation. Kei laughed, and hugged him tightly into his chest.

“Tsukkiiiii,” Yamaguchi complained, not moving from his new position wrapped around Kei. “That was mean.”  
“It got you up, though,” Kei retorted, repeating his invisible circles into Yamaguchi’s back. “Come on, you know we promised your dad we’d clean up.”  
“.... Fine. Just… one more minute.”

Kei allowed him this, holding Yamaguchi against his chest, and reveling in the feeling of Yamaguchi’s warm breath on his neck. He glanced up into the dark television screen, wishing it could take a picture of this moment for him. Of Yamaguchi willingly curled in his lap, arms wrapped around him, face buried into his neck and flushed with content, and a glinting light reflecting from the window.

Kei did a double take, his eyes narrowing, zeroed on the corner of the screen that reflected the window beside them. He stared for a full minute until he saw it again. A faint glint coming from outside. Slowly, Kei moved one of his hands from Yamaguchi’s back to the edge of the blanket blocking his view of the window. The glint flickered in the screen a third time.

Kei yanked back the blanket and stared hard out the window, searching for a sign of movement. Yamaguchi stirred with the sudden rush of cooler air, lifting his head from Kei’s shoulder.

“Tsukki?” he asked. “What are you looking at?”

Kei glared at the window, but allowed the blanket to fall. He sighed and let himself lean back.  
“Nothing, just a trick of the light, I guess. Let's clean up and go upstairs.”

He was silent as they put the room back together and unplugged the _kotatsu._ Kei scooped the blankets up in his arms as they headed up the stairs, Yamaguchi stretching and yawning in front of him. His skin crawled on his back, and he kept glancing behind him to the window every few seconds, just in case. Even when Yamaguchi went to the bathroom to brush his teeth, Kei moved to the window and peered out into the dark for a moment. He was halfway to his phone before Yamaguchi returned and he thought better of it. He’d see Suga tomorrow anyway, he thought. As long as nothing happened, he could tell himself it was a trick of the light until morning. 

Yamaguchi’s hands wrapping around his wrist roused him from his thoughts. Kei glanced at him and was met with Yamaguchi’s inviting smile. He tugged lightly on Kei’s arm, prompting him to sit. Kei pulled his glasses off his face and folded them carefully on the side table before easing himself into Yamaguchi’s bed. He curled around Yamaguchi, who turned to face him and slung one arm over Kei’s waist, falling asleep almost instantly. 

Kei inhaled deeply and hugged Yamaguchi close, his eyes trained on the darkened window taunting him. His heartbeat stuttered with every twinkle of starlight, each twitching branch in the silhouette of the treeline, sleep detained by a shrill whistle of panic settling into the back of his mind. He cursed the window under his breath.

The window remained frustratingly silent in return, until Kei’s exhaust finally took him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, yes, I'm alive (barely), and I've finally updated this.
> 
> Super special thanks to Hatakaashi for helping me through my writer's block and supporting me with this!!!


	4. Spark

Date Tech was one of the more “elite” training schools within the Organization. The school’s focal point was in training the Tohoku Region’s Crisis Responders, which were specialized agents that were often called to disaster scenes. Crisis Responders often had wide ranges of abilities and resources, and trainings in their locations were equally as diverse.

It was something Kei was not fully looking forward to. Crisis trainings often were unpredictable and intense, and it was difficult to half-ass his way through them like he could most others. Considering Suga had yet to see him at his full physical potential, and he wasn’t keen to start showing off, he made it a point to drag out his morning with Yamaguchi. They stayed in Yamaguchi’s bed together, pressing their bodies flush, letting the sun warm their sides until Yamaguchi’s mother ordered them down for breakfast. 

As he left, he took a last-minute, sideways glance at the treeline, scowling at its innocent swaying in the late morning breeze.

“Sorry I can’t stay longer this time,” he apologized, forcing his voice to stay cool while his heart squirmed at the fact that Yamaguchi seemed loathe to let go of his hands.  
“That’s okay!” Yamaguchi replied, squeezing them as if to make a point. “There’s always next weekend.”  
“Yeah.”  
“Do you feel any better?” Yamaguchi asked. Kei dropped his eyes to the porch and hoped the tinge in his cheeks could pass as windburn.  
“Tsukki?”  
“Shut up. I’m fine,” he answered. Yamaguchi sighed and finally released his hands, which Kei immediately balled in his jacket pockets. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”  
“See you tomorrow, Tsukki!!” Yamaguchi exclaimed, waving after him as he turned away and headed off down the street. 

The shrill whistling in the back of his mind kept him from pulling out his headphones. His yellow eyes flicked back and forth down both sides of the street, lingering on any signs of movement. Kei had to slow his breathing more than once, and only noticed once he was already at the bus stop that he was instinctively walking faster than normal. Kei cursed himself in his mind, painting the words against his mental infrastructure.

“Yo.”

Kei looked up and saw Kuroo Tetsurou waving at him with two fingers, Yaku and Suga in pursuit, and Kiyoko trailing behind, tapping away on her phone. Yaku jogged forward, and kicked Kuroo in the back of the leg, causing him to stumble.

“You friggin’ tall-ass jerk! Slow down so we can keep up with you!” Yaku snarled. Kei raised a brow, noting down that Yaku was clearly not a morning person. Kuroo grinned and loomed over him.  
“Oh, Yakkun, how could you be so cruel? It’s not _my_ fault that _some_ of us are so lacking in HGH on top of various omega-3 fatty acids-”

Yaku kicked him again, hard enough to make him bend over to the point that he could deck him square in the jaw. Kei snorted into the back of his hand.

“Good morning, Tsukishima!” Suga greeted. “Ready for today?”  
“I suppose,” he sighed. “I have to talk to you about something though.”  
“Okay! Well, we can talk on the ride to Dateko. Hey, Yaku! Have you ever been out to this school before?”

Suga and Yaku chatted on the bench while Yaku sipped at what appeared to be the world’s largest cup of coffee, Kiyoko choosing to sit beside them. Kuroo dusted himself off and leaned against the overhang, trying to pretend he hadn’t just gotten destroyed by someone half his size. 

“Smooth,” Kei praised sarcastically, earning him a cheshire grin from the older boy.  
“I’m always smooth,” Kuroo replied, winking and snapping a finger gun at him. “You seem like less of a prick this morning.”

Kei scoffed and averted his eyes.  
“Or not.”  
“And here I was, just about to apologize to you.”  
“Ohoho?” Kei could feel the gloat radiating off of Kuroo’s grin as he leaned forward.  
“I’ve changed my mind. I’m not going to.”  
“Aw, don’t be shy! No shame in owning your mistakes, young grasshopper.”  
“No.”  
“That’s fine,” Kuroo said, straightening up. “I’m not quite ready to forgive you yet anyway.”

Kei’s head snapped around to stare at Kuroo in disbelief, who only returned his look with a playful wink. The growing rumble of a large engine pulled Kei from his thoughts. The bus roared over the nearest hill and pulled to a stop in front of them. Kei made sure to choose a seat in a window towards the back. The other four crowded the back bench behind him, Suga chatting away a million words a minute between the two Nekoma agents, and Kiyoko eyeing him from her seat. Kei pulled out his phone.

**Suga**  
_I still need to talk to you. It’s important._  
Okay???  
_Not over text._  
Okay, I’ll try to hop over when we stop next.

He didn’t get the chance. At the next bus stop, an older man sat down in the seat beside Kei, and neither Suga nor him had the gall to ask him to move. Kei sighed and pulled out his headphones, turning the volume up high. He could tell Suga when they got to Dateko.

They got off the bus a mile from the school and began walking, Suga pointing out various landmarks to Kuroo and Yaku as they walked. 

Kei decided his phone was better off hidden, pulling it from his pocket and then moving it deep into the confines of his bag after he remembered where he was going and who would be waiting for him there, at the gate, waving with his fingers.

“Yahoo~! Kei-chan! You finally made it!” Oikawa Tooru was calling from the front of the school. Kuroo and Yaku both side-eyed him suspiciously as Kei heaved a dramatic sigh. Kiyoko patted his shoulder sympathetically before strolling ahead of him.

“Good afternoon, Oikawa-san,” she greeted. Oikawa bowed dramatically in return.  
“It’s always a pleasure, Kiyoko-san! I appreciate you joining us today! And you’ve brought guests, it seems?”  
“Yes,” Kiyoko stated, stepping aside to introduce the Nekoma agents. “These are Kuroo Tetsuro and Yaku Morisuke of Nekoma Metropolitan High School in Tokyo. They will be joining us today as well.”  
“Oooh! Agents from the big city! I’m flattered,” Oikawa said, his smile turning into a snarl that Kuroo mirrored with ease. “Oikawa Tooru, captain of the Aoba Johsai Trainee Extermination Squad.”  
“Kuroo Tetsuro,” Kuroo greeted, grasping Oikawa’s extended hand with more force than necessary. “I look forward to getting to know our Miyagi counterparts. Suga’s told us all about you, of course.”  
“I’m sure,” Oikawa replied, shooting a glance his way. “Kei-chan, if you keep scowling like that your face will get wrinkles. Iwa-chan has the same problem, you know!”

A volleyball came flying from the Dateko courtyard and thwacked into the back of Oikawa’s head. Kuroo stifled a snort as Oikawa gripped the back of his head and whimpered.

“Oi, Shittykawa! Stop talking about me behind my back!” Iwaizumi scolded as he approached, punching his captain’s shoulder for good measure. He then turned to the group of arrivals. “Sorry about him. Good to see you guys again. I can take you down to the gear room if you need it.”  
“That would be most appreciated, Iwaizumi-san,” Kiyoko answered. 

Iwaizumi led them into the school and to an elevator that brought them to the underground levels underneath the school. It was a veritable maze of hallways and training rooms, each one looking more enormous and treacherous than the last.  
“The training supervisor will be monitoring us remotely, since she’s out of town. We’ll be using the Demolition Zone for our training,” Iwaizumi explained. “The instructions we were given was to use whatever gear we’re normally used to. We’ll split into groups once everybody is ready.”

They turned a corner and Iwaizumi pushed a button to open the door to the gear room. It had lockers presumably full of gear for the trainees here, with a bathroom, changing stalls, and showers in the back. 

“Thanks, Iwaizumi!” Suga called over his shoulder, dropping his bag in front of one of the lockers that was tagged as reserved for their use. Kuroo was already unzipping and removing his hoodie, Yaku pulling kevlar out of his bag. Kei moved himself into a back corner and began doing the same, changing over into black and gray kevlar tactical suits and leather boots. The gear room became filled with the sounds of velcro pockets on bulletproof vests and the sharp clicks of belts and ammunition magazines full of blanks. Kei walked back towards the bathroom area and pulled off his glasses, carefully inserting the contacts that he loathed but were unfortunately more practical for agency work than a pair of breakable glass frames on his face.

Once they were all geared up, they made their way down towards the Demolition Zone. Kei noticed with narrowed eyes that Kuroo wasn’t wearing a gun holster on his belt, but two long slender holsters down his thighs that he couldn’t identify. He nudged Suga in the side, gesturing to it and quirking a brow. Suga followed his eyes, grinned and shot a wink in his direction.

They met up with the EXSquad members outside the doors. Kei’s other brow raised to meet his first.

“I thought you said your group was going to be here?” he asked. Oikawa grinned, glancing over at Yahaba and Iwaizumi behind him.  
“It is here, Kei-chan! We have a large unit, so we usually split up for trainings,” he explained. “Iwa-chan, Shigeru, and I picked today so we could attend practice yesterday. Everybody else did the Saturday one with Dateko and Johenzi.”  
“Well isn’t that just peachy?” Kuroo interrupted. “How do we want to split up?”  
“There’s eight of us, so we should do pairs,” Yahaba figured. Kiyoko pulled up her phone.  
“According to the trainer, we will need to have two teams. The objective is a small-scale explosive hidden in the center of the cityscape that we will have to race to deactivate. Treat the other team as if they were an enemy. But, I agree with Yahaba-kun, pairs would make things interesting.”

Interesting, sure. Kei was always one to go for being interesting. They drew straws and ended up with himself, Kiyoko, Oikawa, and Iwaizumi on one team, and Yahaba, Yaku, Suga, and Kuroo on the other. Kuroo led his team around the corner to enter from the opposite side, and Kiyoko led him and the two EXSquad members to do the same.

“I want to be paired with Kei-chan!” Oikawa sang, looping his arm around Kei. Kei stiffened and tried to shake the older boy off to no avail.  
“How exactly do you plan on making that work?” Iwaizumi countered. “Even you should know that the best formation is to have us on the upper decks and while Tsukishima and Shimizu make their way towards the objective.”  
“Okay, yeah, Mr. Obvious, but I still want to be paired with Kei-chan,” Oikawa said, rolling his eyes. He turned towards Kei. “I’ll make sure those city imps don’t lay a finger on you!”  
“Speaking of them, I would make sure we keep an eye out for Kuroo,” Kiyoko said, turning towards him. “He’s also a sharpshooter, but he prefers closer ranges than Oikawa and Iwaizumi do. He will likely pair off with Suga to go after the objective, while Yaku will likely choose to stay behind with Yahaba as a scout.”  
“Kuroo’s a sharpshooter? I didn’t see a rifle on him,” Kei stated.  
“Kuroo doesn’t use a rifle,” Kiyoko rebuked. “He prefers more classical weaponry.”

This continued to confuse Kei, as he racked his brain for potential classical weapons that Kuroo might use, and drew up a comical image of a pair of katanas. Katanas couldn’t be shot, however, so that theory was useless, if amusing. 

The door to the Demolition Zone opened, and they entered into an apocalyptic looking cityscape. It was dark, with the eerie glow of fires every few blocks. The Date Tech students had spent a lot of time and money developing their training facility to be as lifelike as possible, which meant that there were paved city streets, sirens echoing in the distance, and flashing lights made to imitate helicopters and fighter jets flying overhead. 

“So what’s the plan?” Iwaizumi asked. Kiyoko flicked her tactical visor to life and began scan their area.  
“The objective is roughly one kilometer from here. Oikawa, Iwaizumi, your best vantage point is at the top of that building, there,” she said, pointing out an unfinished skyscraper with scaffolding covering the upper levels. 

“The others will likely be on that building over there.” Another pointed finger roughly a kilometer in the opposite direction. “That one will provide solid ground for Yaku to do his work while Yahaba covers him.”  
“Great! Iwa-chan and I will cover you two until we get to the vantage point,” Oikawa stated. He glanced to Kei. “Don’t let me down, okay, Kei-chan?”

They slinked down to the streets, Oikawa and Iwaizumi keeping their eyes on the skyline while Kei and Kiyoko kept their gaze on the streets. They moved quickly and quietly, with Oikawa staying right on Kei’s ass and shooting him playful grins every time they took cover.

“You look odd without your glasses, you know. You should invest in one of those cute visors Kiyoko-chan has.”  
“Shut up.”  
“Don’t be rude to your senpai, Kei-chan~”  
“Okay, _please_ shut the fuck up. You’re going to give us away.”

Iwaizumi snickered over their communicators, earning him a scathing look of betrayal from his partner. All of a sudden, they heard the sound of gunfire coming their way. Kei flattened himself against the concrete behind him, and looked all around them.

“Up! It’s Yahaba, they’ve abandoned their vantage point!” Iwaizumi shouted, pulling Kiyoko into a back alley.

“Move!” Oikawa hissed to him, motioning to follow him under some covered scaffolding. They ducked around the nearest corner, and found themselves in front of a rusted fire escape. Kei pulled Oikawa back and pointed to it. Oikawa grinned wickedly, and motioned for Kei to get behind him as they planted themselves inside the stone steps to a cellar hatch. Oikawa shot once into the fire escape, rattling the rusted metal. As predicted, they suddenly heard movement on it. Kei rushed out from behind Oikawa, reaching up and grabbing the support scaffolding. He summoned up as much energy as he could, until he could practically feel the iron wilting under his fingertips. Gunfire rattled off the steps, sparking over his head. Kei yanked with all his might, and ducked out of the way as the entire bottom half came crashing down, taking Yahaba with it. At the same time, Oikawa kicked the cellar door open and called for Kei, who ran for it, gun drawn, firing three shots behind him just in case. At least one hit its mark as Yahaba groaned and gripped at his shoulder as he watched them dart inside.

“Nice try, Shigeru!!!” Oikawa sang over his shoulder as he slammed the door shut over them. Kei followed him in bolting across the concrete floor, coming to a second door that undoubtedly led to the main level. Kei looked for the hinges, and then kicked it in without hesitation.

“Good one!” Oikawa praised. “You have much finer control than I first thought.”  
“Hopefully that last shot will give us a good lead, we don’t know where Yaku is,” he replied before flipping the switch on his communicator. 

“Are you guys okay?” he asked.  
[[Yeah, I’m fine.]] came Iwaizumi radio-warped voice through their earpieces. [[Yaku got the drop on us from the side. We got split up.]]  
[[I am also unharmed.]] Kiyoko’s voice confirmed. [[I am about half a kilometer from the objective and well hidden. Where are you two?]]  
“We’re inside the building we ducked around to the southwest,” Kei answered. “We got the drop on Yahaba, it’ll take him a bit to catch up.”  
“Kei-chan did some amazing work, Kiyoko. You would have been so proud. Iwa-chan! Shigeru almost nicked me with one of his shots! Too bad he fell for such a simple distraction.”  
[[Yeah, well, I’m sure you’ll take thim through the ringer on that one.]]  
“You know it.”

With confirmation that their teammates were fine, Kei and Oikawa made their way to the second level. Oikawa gazed out one of the windows, his snapshot eyes taking in the scene before them.

“Okay, I have a plan.”  
“I’m terrified.”  
“Don’t be rude! Listen, we use the windows on this level to move through the buildings so you can catch up with Kiyoko. Then, I’ll make my way to the top of that one there, see it? With the dome? That’ll put me in a good spot to watch you as you two head in for the objective. Iwa-chan can head for our vantage point and cover the outer area. Iwa-chan, did you hear that?”  
[[Roger. I’m on my way there now.]]  
[[I am nearby where you are headed, Oikawa-san]] Kiyoko answered. [[I will try to provide cover from the ground. I believe Yaku may be lurking nearby.]]  
“Copy! Kei-chan, let’s make a move.”

Kei followed, thinking ahead of himself. Yahaba hadn’t been too hurt by the blank to his shoulder. He would be up in seconds, looking for them. They hadn’t seen or heard anything from Suga or Kuroo yet, which was equally concerning. Kei let himself move behind Oikawa, letting him clear the alleyway before crossing over the windowsill to the next building and providing the same courtesy to the sniper.

Kei begrudgingly had to hand it to Oikawa, the guy knew how to put together a game plan. They crossed three buildings in minutes, with only one incident of gunfire echoing down the alley. Kiyoko confirmed that it was Yaku, and she had it under control. Kei and Oikawa darted across the floor of the building, heading for the vantage point Oikawa had selected for himself. Kei pressed himself against the window frame, clearing the alley below while Oikawa took a flying leap for the outer wall of the dome.He pulled out a grappling from his belt and raised himself up onto the ledge, signaling to Kei that he was clear.

Kei was about to swing himself over as well when he saw movement from behind Oikawa and immediately turned with his weapon.

“Oikawa!”  
“Shit!”  
“Surprise!!!”

Oikawa was tackled by none other than Sugawara Koushi. Why he was on top of a building and not clearing the objective was a mystery to Kei, but it was happening. And what's worse was that Yahaba was right behind him, grinning smugly at having gotten the drop in his senpai. Kei fired at Yahaba, trying to cover himself from the window while Oikawa went hand to hand on the shallow ledge of the building with Suga. 

[[What’s happening?!]] Iwaizumi shouted.  
“We got jumped. Suga’s going at it with Oikawa and Yahaba’s covering him. I can't get out of the building.”  
[[Did he just say that _Suga_ jumped you shittykawa?!]]  
“IWA-CHAN, STOP BEING MEAN AND FUCKING-- oof!-- HELP ME!”

Kei ducked out of the way of one of Yahaba’s rounds, rolling away from the window and prying it out of the wall opposite him. That would come in handy later. Gunfire suddenly rang from the right. Iwaizumi had apparently abandoned the vantage point and come to Oikawa’s aid, as Yahaba was now distracted by a firefight with his second sniper senpai. Oikawa seemed to get the upper hand in his tussle with Suga, as he sat up and decked the Karasuno third year in the face, sending him tumbling over the edge and barely hanging on.

“Kei-chan, go!” Oikawa cried, grabbing his rifle and squaring off with Yahaba. “You're going to pay for that one, Shigeru!”

Kei didn't wait around to see the end. He tucked his gun into its holster and threw himself out the window, flipped his body over and ride the rail of the fire escape down to the alley. Suga, watching from the ledge, followed his lead.

“You're not getting away from me, Tsukishima!” he taunted as he followed Kei around the corner. “Yaku, he's headed Northeast! Cut him off!”  
“Kiyoko, Iwaizumi, they’re trying to pin me down.”  
[[On it.]]  
[[I am pursuing Yaku. Keep moving, Tsukishima!]]

A few of Suga’s rounds flew by him, tailed by Suga’s laughter. He dodged, zig-zagging his movements and ducking in and out of alleyways as he kept his eyes peeled for Yaku. 

[[Tsukishima, get out into the main road where I can see you.]] Iwaizumi ordered. Kei complied. Suga followed, only to be caught off guard by shrapnel and debris from the road exploding in front of him. Kei smirked to himself, silently praising the sniper’s eclectic ammunition stock. Suga ducked out of the way of the sniper fire, shouting more orders to Yaku. Kei kept moving, relying on Iwaizumi to keep him covered. He was only a few meters away from the objective location, when he finally saw Yaku coming up from the right, with Kiyoko in pursuit. Kei slid to a stop, pulling out Yahaba’s bullet and hurling it at Yaku’s head, followed quickly by the knife he had tucked into his belt. Yaku stopped, confused by the thrown projectile, and then ducked quickly at seeing the knife hurling at his face. He frowned, charging at Kei full speed.

Kei widened his stance, getting lower to the ground. As Yaku swung, Kei caught his wrists and tossed him to the side, drawing his gun quickly after. Kiyoko slid into place behind him just as Sugawara seemed to catch up, handing Kei back his knife. The four of them aimed at each other and waited. 

“Iwaizumi, where are you?” Kei hissed into the communicator. He got no response. Suga flashed him a devilish grin that Yaku mirrored.  
“Aren’t you two getting low on ammo yet?” Suga asked. “I don’t think I’ve seen you change out your clips.”  
“We’ll be fine,” Kiyoko retorted, cocking her pistols. 

Before anyone could respond, twin sniper fire from opposite sides struck the pavement in front of Yaku and Suga’s feet, causing them both to leap back in surprise. Kei glanced to the right, his eyes widening as he saw Oikawa standing there, grinning like a madman down his scope, mirrored on Kei’s left by Iwaizumi.

[[Kei-chan, now!]]

He and Kiyoko opened fire at once, causing Suga and Yaku to retreat and scatter. Yaku seemed to get hit in the leg, and rolled into an alley, cursing. Suga chose to take cover inside one of the adjacent buildings.

[[You two go, we’ll handle this]] Iwaizumi told them. Kei and Kiyoko nodded to each other and turned, running inside the skyscraper holding the objective.  
[[Good luck!!]] Oikawa sang over the communicator. Kei rolled his eyes. Luck had literally nothing to do with any of this. 

They opted for the stairs over the elevator, covering each other as they moved in silence. Kei, heeding Suga’s advice, switched out his clips just in case. After all, they’d only successfully cleared three out of four of their opponents. And the fourth was apparently nowhere to be found.

“Damn. Where is that rat bastard?” Kei seethed.  
[[Technically, Kei-chan, their team is called _cats_...]]

Kei switched his communicator off, which earned him a sniff of laughter from Kiyoko.  
“He’s probably waiting for us somewhere in here,” Kiyoko guessed. Kei nodded.  
“I know, I just don’t want to assume anything.”  
“You know, Tsukishima, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look so serious before. Obviously, you’re still holding back quite a bit, but it’s rather refreshing,” Kiyoko noted. Kei dropped his cover and glared over his shoulder at her as she dipped around him to take the next flight of stairs. 

“This isn’t volleyball practice,” Kei retorted. “I’ve already experienced firsthand what can happen to us. I’m not going to just blow it off.”  
“True, but there’s nothing wrong with giving a little bit more effort,” Kiyoko responded. Kei elected not to respond as he followed her up the stairs.

The stairwell was eerily quiet, save for the wailing of the sirens in the distance and the low hum of electricity through the dimmed light fixture overhead. Kiyoko motioned to the doorway at the top of the next flight of stairs. 

“It’s through there,” she stated. Kei nodded. Before he finished his next step, a sudden series of loud bangs ripped through the stairwell. The doorway behind them slammed open, and Yahaba came rocketing out of it, tackling Kiyoko to the ground. They went tumbling down the stairs, Kei following with his eyes as they landed with Kiyoko straddling the second year boy. 

“Go!” she ordered up at him, struggling against Yahaba as he tried to push her off. Kei turned and bolted up the stairs, kicking the final door in and clearing the next room. If Yahaba had made it here already, then they’d spent too much time being careful. 

The objective was sitting in the middle of what appeared to be a destroyed laboratory, with a large generator in the center. In a real-life scenario, that would have meant detonation would cause an explosion large enough to level the city. These Date Tech kids didn’t play around.

Kei maneuvered around desks and demolished computer debris and torn up tile flooring that exposed even more torn up looking metal underneath. He leaped over a rather large hole separating him from the objective, and knelt down to observe it, flipping his communicator back on. 

“I’m at the objective,” Kei murmured, hyperaware of how his voice echoed around the spacious room. “It looks stable.”  
[[KEI-CHAN!!! You meanie! I’ve been trying to talk to you!]]  
“I turned my communicator off.”  
[[I’m going to get you for that.]]  
[[We’re still good out here. Suga and Yaku haven’t really tried going anywhere.]]  
“Yahaba snuck in from the back and got the drop on Kiyoko and me,” Kei reported. Oikawa made a pleased sound.  
[[Tsukishima, do you see a switch anywhere on the machine?]] Iwaizumi asked.  
“No.”  
[[Huh. It’s just a training module. They’re not gonna make us decrypt in this training, so it should have a pretty obvious off switch.]]  
“I’ll take another look.”

He moved around, testing his weight on the metal under the floor and leaning on it to get a good look at the back of the machine.

A small ‘thwick’ from behind him and an instant of whistling wind were the only warning he got before something sharp and solid sliced through his pant leg, implanting itself in the floor. Kei whipped his head around to see the long, thin shaft of an arrow sticking out of his pants. He looked up and saw a glint from above. Not giving himself time to think too hard, he grabbed the loosened metal flooring from beneath him and ripped it upwards, holding it up in front of his face as a second arrow penetrated straight through and stopped fifteen centimeters from his face. Kei ripped his leg free of the arrow and got to his feet as Kuroo jumped down from the rafters and slammed his bow into the metal plate.

“Hi,” he greeted, batting the metal away and sending Kei stumbling before pulling out a small red lever from his pocket, grinning. “Looking for this?”

Kei gaped at Kuroo, eyeing the compound bow in his right hand and the steel-tipped arrow to the left, to his torn pant leg, to the switch in Kuroo’s hand. 

“You’ve got to be shitting me,” he said, finding his footing. Kuroo grinned, pocketed the switch, and took his stance.  
“Language, Tsukishima.”

Kei lunged for him, which only got his arms grabbed and yanked sideways. Kuroo pressed the strong of his elbow into Kei’s open palm, still grinning. He leaned down and kicked Kei’s legs out from under him before releasing and springing backwards, pulling another arrow out of one of the quivers at his sides and drawing as Kei turned himself over and pushed himself back up onto all fours. Kei managed to dodge the arrow (barely) and charge Kuroo as he was hanging his bow off the back of his belt. Kuroo’s reflexes were fast, though, and he caught Kei’s elbow and responded just as Kei was able to block Kuroo’s.

“Hmm, fast learner,” Kuroo praised, bringing his knee up to Kei’s groin, grabbing his bow and twirling it like a quarterstaff. Kei stumbled backwards again, trying to recover from the soreness in his abdomen quickly, but Kuroo’s baton twirling kept him from catching an opening. It was all Kei could do to dodge and block his attacks.

Kuroo finally took a swipe at Kei’s feet, and followed up with a straight kick to Kei’s chest, sending Kei sliding across the floor on his back, coming to a stop right next to the objective. Kuroo was right on top of him, aiming an arrow to his face, still grinning. 

A beat of silence passed between them before Kuroo pulled back. He slipped his arrow back into his right quiver and walked over to the objective, attached the red switch to the machine and pulled it. All at once, the lights came on, and the sirens stopped. Kuroo turned and strolled over to where Kei was staring in shock, extending his tabbed right hand out to him.

“Now I forgive you,” he said, his grin scraping across every nerve of Kei’s soul. Kei stared at him for a second before scoffing and accepting Kuroo’s help to his feet, brushing himself off as he heard Kuroo’s team cheering over Kuroo’s communicator. 

Twenty minutes later, they were walking out of the school, comparing injuries. Yahaba and Suga both had shiners developing on opposite cheeks where Oikawa had punched them both, though Yahaba had considerably more cuts and scrapes. Kiyoko’s face had a few cuts from Yahaba tackling her. Oikawa was covered in bruises, and Yaku was still limping from where he'd been hit with the blank. Kei himself had a handsome laceration on his shin from Kuroo’s arrow, and severely wounded pride.

Kuroo, on the other hand, was perfectly fine, smiling smugly with his arm wrapped around Kei’s shoulder.

“That was fun!” Oikawa cheered. “You Tokyo boys aren't half bad!”  
“We prefer to think of ourselves as ‘amazing specialists,’ but, sure,” Kuroo replied, earning a snicker from Yaku.  
“And, Shigeru was _outstanding!!”_ Oikawa commended, causing his junior to redden and splutter.  
“The real fun part is going to be explaining this to my mother,” Suga said with a grin, pointing to his eye.  
“And Daichi tomorrow,” Kei added, which got the others to laugh.

They made it back to the bus station, and found a bus to Tokyo getting ready to depart.

“Well, see you city-slickers around!” Oikawa said with a wave as they shook hands with Kuroo and Yaku.  
“Likewise to you country bumpkins,” Kuroo replied. He and Yaku hugged Suga and bowed respectfully to Kiyoko before turning to him. “Don't be a stranger, okay?”  
“... If I must,” Kei replied, shaking his hand. 

He just barely felt a hand in his pocket, whirling around in time to see Oikawa fishing his phone out. Kei lunged, but not before Oikawa had successfully retrieved the device and tossed it to Kuroo.

“Here you go, Kuroo-kun! Kei-chan loves making new friends!”  
“I am going to kill you,” Kei replied, advancing on the sniper as Kuroo snickered and typed in his phone number.  
“Don't be hostile. I'm trying to help you!”  
“I don't need your help!”  
“He's just salty because you beat him. He'll come around.”  
“Oh, don't worry, I know.”  
“You can both go to Hell.”

\--------------------------------

Winds tended to whistle quieter at night, especially when warmed by later spring air, only drowned out by the occasional car and footsteps of straggling commuters. Or at least, in Kei’s case, two exhausted student athletes.

“Practice today was great, huh?” Yamaguchi said idly as they ambled down the sidewalk. “Do you think we really have a chance at the Inter-high?”

Kei shrugged, his eyes downcast.

“Well, I suppose we’ll find out soon, huh?” Yamaguchi continued, his eyes furrowing at Kei’s lack of response. “Are you okay?”  
“I’m fine. Just tired.”

Yamaguchi gave a laugh and stepped a little closer, letting their shoulders bump together. Kei responded with half a smile, his chest warming some. 

“You know, some guys came by the house yesterday,” Yamaguchi said offhandedly. “They were like, salesmen or something. They were really creepy about it too, you know? You should have seen it. It took my mom 20 minutes to convince them to leave.”  
“What were they selling?” Kei asked, the whistle of the wind getting just a little shriller in his ear.  
“Oh, who knows. Some kind of insurance, I think?” Yamaguchi replied before giving a laugh. “Their pitch was so poor, too. At one point, the fat one started talking about electricity and the one light in the hall, you know the one that flickers randomly? Well, it started going off and he about near had a heart attack on the stoop.”

Kei snorted, but mentally filed the note away in the back of his mind. It occurred to him that he never actually told Suga what had happened two weeks ago. He made a move to pull out his phone, when the warmth at his left side cooled. Kei stopped and turned, his chest clenching as he noticed Yamaguchi facing the left side of the intersection. 

“Tsukki, I’m going this way!” He said, pointing down the road towards Shimada store with a bright grin. Kei strained not to grimace at him. Yamaguchi had been wandering off to the store for weeks now, practicing serves with one of Ukai’s old teammates. Kei had only followed him once, the sight sour in his memory.

He shrugged, covering up a scoff with a fake cough.  
“Sure, whatever.”

Yamaguchi, bless him, noticed. He always noticed, and every time, his shoulders slumped a half centimeter.  
“Okay, bye!”  
“Bye.”

Kei hung around just long enough to watch Yamaguchi round the corner, forcing a shiver from a colder wind down. He grabbed his headphones and slipped them around his ears, turning the volume up high.

He’d been studying for an hour when he got a text from Yamaguchi saying that he’d made it home safely and sorry for making him mad. Kei rolled his eyes and ignored it. He wasn’t mad. He was going to convince himself that he wasn’t mad. Yamaguchi could do whatever he wanted, right?

Kei jumped as his phone rang. He grumbled and looked at the name on the screen, sighing heavily.

“What?” he asked.  
“Wow, you just get more pleasant every time I talk to you, huh?” Kuroo’s voice answered bemusedly on the other end on the line.  
“I’m busy,” Kei justified. “What do you want?”  
“Just checking in. Suga says you’ve been more tense than usual.”  
“I told Suga already that I’m fine and you can all mind your business.”  
“I don’t think I believe you, Tsukki.”  
“Stop calling me that,” Kei growled, blood starting to pound in his head.  
“Come on, you can’t keep your asshole clenched all the time. It’ll get sore,” Kuroo prodded. “What? Did Yamaguchi break up with you, or something? Suga said something about how you two were getting quieter around each other too-”

The call dropped the instant Kei slammed his phone down on his desk. Kei checked the screen, only to notice that it had started glitching out, flipping between apps and the home screen randomly. He cursed, and moved to check his laptop, which thankfully appeared fine. He cursed again for how badly electronics seemed to hate him, pulling open his least favorite chat.

Messaging: Tsukishima Akiteru  
Me: Hey.  
Tsukishima: Hey! What’s up? Are you okay?  
Me: I’m fine.  
Tsukishima: Did you get my last few texts? I hardly ever hear from you these days unless it’s about  
Tsukishima: Wait  
Tsukishima: Did you break your phone again?  
Me: No.  
Me: It just decided to short out.  
Me: Again.  
Tsukishima: Kei, that’s like the fourth phone this year.  
Me: Can you just fix it please.  
Tsukishima: Yeah, sure, don’t worry about it.  
Tsukishima: Love you bro!

\--------------------------------

The gymnasium in Sendai was even larger and more excessive than Seijou’s, and it was giving Kei a headache. Yamaguchi looked ready to vomit next to him, Suga was shooting them glances every 12 seconds, and every imaginable worst-case scenario was running through Kei’s head.

They weren't playing a team with Junior Agents on it yet, but there would likely be at least one agent in the stands. Or maybe on a nearby court. Kei’s eyes kept darting back and forth between Yamaguchi and any random passerby.

“Good news everyone!” Daichi called out, running up to them with Kiyoko. “I found out which team we’re playing first.”  
“Is it Seijou!?” Hinata screeched, clutching his stomach in nerves, earning him a slap on the back of the head from Kageyama.  
“Dumbass! That wouldn’t be good news!” he scolded. Kei silently agreed.  
“Relax, it’s not Seijou,” Daichi interrupted before Hinata could get himself unnecessarily worked up. “It’s Tokonami High School. My old friend Hayato Ikejiri goes there. I just saw him now!”  
“That’s nice!” Suga said with a smile.  
“I’ve sort of heard of Tokonami High School,” said Noya. “I’ve heard they’re kind of weak.”  
“We’ll destroy them!” Tanaka shouted, earning him stares of disapproval from Daichi and the crowd around them.  
“Don’t let your guard down just because they’re not a powerhouse school,” Daichi warned, before beckoning them to follow him towards the gymnasium. Yamaguchi seemed to visibly relax next to Kei, who slowed his pace to stay beside him.

“What are you nervous about?” Kei asked. Yamaguchi jumped.  
“N-nothing!” Kei arched a brow at the obvious lie. Yamaguchi sighed.  
“I just… really want to win, you know?” he said. Kei shrugged.  
“It’ll happen or it won’t. You’ll be fine either way,” he said, pulling out his phone and showing Yamaguchi the picture of the dog they had passed on the bus while Yamaguchi had dozed off. Yamaguchi’s face lit up at the new love of his life on the screen, successfully distracted from his nerves. 

“Is this a new phone?” Yamaguchi asked, looking up from the dog pictures.  
“Yeah, my other one shorted out last week,” Kei explained as they walked into the gym. Yamaguchi burst into a bout of giggles.  
“Tsukki! You have such bad luck with technology! You’re going to run out of replacements!”  
“Shut up,” Kei huffed, his cheeks pinking slightly. Yamaguchi jostled him playfully.

Daichi circled them up for warm up stretches, shooting a smile over at Tokonami High School’s club, where his friend, Ikejiri, was waving. Suga, to no one’s surprise, materialized on Kei’s other side.

“What were you two getting so giggly about?” he asked. Yamaguchi let out another snort.  
“Tsukki broke his phone again and had to get a new one!”  
“Huh? Again?”  
“He has such bad luck with technology! How many phones do you go through a year now, Tsukki?”  
“Stop talking about this,” Kei huffed again. Yamaguchi and Suga just laughed around him.  
“No wonder you haven’t been answering us!” Suga cried, wiping his eyes.

Kei tried very hard to be mad, but it was difficult when Yamaguchi was starting to go pink in the face from laughing so hard, which was another one of those stupidly endearing traits about him that Kei just couldn’t ignore. Instead, he ended up pouting and staring at the floor as his senpai and best friend laughed over their stretches around him. 

In hindsight, it was a good thing that their warm ups were relatively calm and friendly. Hinata only had one bathroom meltdown, and as it turned out, Ikejiri, who came over to talk to Daichi, seemed like a decent person. Not a single person on Tokonami’s entire team gave Kei chills, so they were probably okay. This match might actually end up being enjoyable.

And then, of course--

“The Grand King makes his entrance!” Hinata announced, pointing to the stands. Kei’s head snapped upwards, where not only Oikawa, but the majority of Seijou’s team had appeared to watch the match. His mood soured at once. He tried to ignore the fact that he could feel the snapshots on him, accompanied by a jarring, internal, drawn out “Kei-chan!!!!” that was undoubtedly occurring from above, along with an audible “Tobio-chan!!!” that, to his great relief, made Kageyama cringe. 

His worry was misplaced, considering the most interesting thing that happened the entire match was a tie between Tanaka overdoing his hype on his first successful spike and Tokonami’s initial shock seeing the freak duo quick. They took the match with ease, a small crowd cheering around them as they walked back to the locker rooms to change and grab some snacks. 

“All right!! I’m all fired up from that!” Tanaka was yelling through a mouthful of banana. “Who’s next on our list of victims today, Daichi-san?!?!”

“Date Tech Volleyball Club,” Kiyoko answered. The room quieted at once. Hinata looked around at the older group.  
“Wha-? Why’d everybody go all quiet?!”  
“Date Tech, or Dateko, is a powerhouse school,” Noya explained. “They specialize in blocks.”  
“They call themselves ‘The Iron Wall,’” Suga agreed. “They’re the team that crushed Asahi last year.”

Asahi, who was looking very green, did not comment.

“W-well, we’ll get them this time, right?!” Hinata asked. Tanaka brightened.  
“That’s the spirit! We’ll bust their Iron Wall right open!”  
“Don’t you worry this time, Asahi! I’ll make sure you get the ball every time!” Noya agreed, clapping the ace on the back. Kei sighed, tuning out for the rest of their ridiculous pep talk. He focused himself on the fact that Yamaguchi was sitting down next to him, offering an earbud, and sitting much closer than they would normally in public. Kei swore he felt sparks coming off of his eager shoulder. He quietly snaked an arm backwards, and placed his hand on top of Yamaguchi’s between them. No one saw, but Yamaguchi hummed into his shoulder and that was enough.

Their second round in the preliminaries started off rougher. The Iron Wall seemed just as impenetrable in the first few volleys as it suggested. Kei spent his time during the first set with his attention diverted between studying the Wall’s read blocks and Yamaguchi, who was standing next to Suga wringing his jersey. He spent enough time switched out with Noya that he didn’t have to do much in terms of playing the game, giving him the chance to loom behind Yamaguchi and glare menacingly at the Junior Agents in the stands behind them a couple of times.

The second set, naturally, was made more difficult by Dateko marking Hinata and some other things Kei found annoying. Like working together. And thinking. But luckily for him, the stage was not set up for much blocking on their part. Ukai had made it clear that they would be on the offensive for the most part during this game, so Asahi and Noya were able to steal the spotlight with Noya’s amazing ankle receive and Asahi blowing through the Iron Wall.

It was knowing that they would have to face Seijou tomorrow that had Yamaguchi’s nerves fried by the time they were walking home.

“You don’t have to be so nervous,” Kei told him. Yamaguchi jumped. “You remember we beat them last time, right?”  
“Well, yeah, but what about Oikawa? Aren’t you worried about having to receive that monster serve?”  
“I’m more worried about having to receive his obnoxious greeting tomorrow.”

Yamaguchi giggled at that and straightened up as they walked. As they approached the crossing, Yamaguchi slowed.

“Uh, Tsukki-?”  
“You’re going again today? But we’re already at the preliminaries. One day isn’t going to make a difference.”  
“Yeah, but, still…” Yamaguchi trailed off. Kei couldn’t think of a response, which Yamaguchi seemed to take as enough of a goodbye to wave and leave him there with a ‘see you tomorrow!’ Kei watched, the hairs bristling on the back of his neck as a cold breeze followed Yamaguchi’s retreating form down the street. 

Kei sighed, kicking a few pebbles of loose asphalt away as he swiveled around, thrusting his headphones over his head and turning the volume on his phone up high. Balling his fists in his pockets, Kei started off down the empty street in the opposite direction, eyes trained on the cracking sidewalk underneath the flickering streetlights. Steaming in his increasingly corrosive thoughts, he hardly cared just how many electric lamps blinked at him as he walked by until he turned right towards his own house.

Kei stopped as the song he was listening to ended and drew in a long breath, trying to let his feelings slip away.

Somewhere, behind him, a twig snapped.

Kei’s head snapped right over his shoulder out of reflex, but as another song had started, there was little else he felt he needed to worry about. Kei continued on, slowing his pace, a slow, cold feeling creeping up his back. He could see his house from here, but a gut feeling told him not to go inside. He kept walking, and turned right at the corner, heading for the park.

He passed a shop with high windows as he walked, keeping his pace steady. With just his eyes, he watched. One step. Two.

Movement.

In one swift motion, Kei ripped the headphones off his head, securing them around his neck, and started sprinting down the street. A shout from behind him confirming one follower, at least. Kei skidded sideways down an alley, bumping into two parked cars hard enough to set off their burglar alarms. Hopefully, their owners would look outside and see him being chased. 

He had not run so hard in years, especially not with a full school bag, a full gym bag, and common loafers ill equipped for running. A throbbing metal song was screeching at him through his headphones, and his glasses threatened to jump off his face any second. Luckily for him, the park’s rusty iron gate was only a few feet away, and it was only seconds later that he had thrown himself inside, darted past the playscape into the nearby grove. Kei pressed himself against a tree and clicked off his music app, silencing his headphones. 

Before he could scale one of the maples, his pursuers entered, arguing instructions to each other. Kei carefully removed his headphones and slipped them into the partially open pocket at the top of his backpack, along with his phone, zipping it up quietly. He held the bag close to his chest and closed his eyes, listening for footsteps. It took a minute, but he eventually trained on a dull thud from his right side. He must be close. Another careful step. _Not yet._ A kicked pebble. A huff of breath. _Just a little more…_ Step.

Kei lunged, bags first, clobbering the man with the full weight of their contents before tackling him. An errant gunshot rang out of his left ear as the two tumbled over, wrestling for control. Kei grappled with him, a stocky sort at least 10 cm smaller than himself, pinning his weapon arm down eventually and elbowing him in the face before wrenching it from him. Kei kicked the man unconscious before he could get up.

Unfortunately, he lost the element of surprise with his scuffle, and his two armed companions came running. They stopped just short of him, but didn’t fire.

“What do you want?” he snarled, aiming his gun at each of them.  
“Easy now, kid, we’re just here to talk--”  
“No, you’re not,” Kei snapped. 

The two men eyed each other sideways, one’s eyebrow arching higher than the other. Kei wondered if this suggested that this was not going at all like these three men had originally planned this to go. 

“Okay,” one of them tried. “Look, we seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot here. We’re not here to hurt you, kid. We just want to talk. So, why don’t you put that down and come with us? Nice and easy. We’ll have a nice little chat at that cafe over on the corner.”

Kei’s brain went into overdrive, trying to make sense of this. They weren’t Organization agents; that much was clear, but unhelpful, since Kei could only begin to imagine what they would want from him instead of the much more valuable teenage boy these two undoubtedly saw him with ten minutes ago. Especially if their goal apparently wasn’t to kill him immediately.

Behind him, from the depths of his backpack, his phone started screeching again. This time, though, it was screeching the ungodly annoying ringtone Kei had specifically selected for one Oikawa Tooru. The two men started at him. 

“What’s that?”  
“My friend is apparently trying to reach me,” Kei answered. The man smiled.  
“Well, you’re going to have to put that down if you want to answer it. Go on.”

Kei weighed his options, and, reading the look on the two men’s faces, lowered the gun. The two men did the same.

“Good boy. Now go answer your friend and tell him you’ll only be a minute.”

Kei walked to his backpack and picked it up, reaching inside and pulling out his phone. It had stopped screeching, but had a notification plainly stating that Oikawa had left him a likely long and annoying voice message. As he checked, he noticed the two men had flanked him. He sent Oikawa a message saying that he would call him back in a minute, which earned him a response of disgustingly happy kaomojis. He turned and faced the two men, who were smiling such false grins that he wanted to puke. They beckoned him to follow up the hill back to the road, without a second glance at their still-unconscious companion. 

They turned away from him, one of them muttering about Kei being ‘more suspicious than he thought,’ and keeping a steady pace. Kei, not wanting to know what was waiting at the cafe for him, glanced every which way, channeling as much of Oikawa’s spirit as possible as he attempted to memorize the surrounding area, angles, and distances in a matter of seconds. With ten steps between the two men and the top of the hill, Kei dropped his bags and pounced.

He grabbed the wrist of the man on his left, punching him square in the eye as he was forced to turn towards Kei, the momentum sending him straight to the ground. Kei then drove his same elbow back towards the other, who was reaching for him. The elbow put some distance between them, but otherwise did no damage. He dodged a punch and, landed a kick to the man’s side.

The first man had picked himself, however, and grabbed Kei from behind, putting him in a barely effective chokehold given he was at least 6 cm smaller. His partner charged and Kei kicked at him again, trying to keep at least one foot on the ground to break free with. Not having much success, Kei reached down to his captor’s waist, plucked the pistol off his hip, and shot him in the leg with it. The man cried out, releasing Kei’s throat just in time for Kei to pistol-whip his partner to the ground and turn the man’s gun on him again. 

He writhed on the ground, clutching his knee and stifling moans and curse words.

“Who are you?” Kei demanded. “What do you want?”

The man continued to wriggle, but did not answer, his eyes wide with fury. Kei trained the pistol on him.

“Who are you and what do you want?” he demanded again, more emphatically. The man gave a great cry and lunged at him. Kei, in panic, fired again, this time into the man’s shoulder. He crumpled, whimpering. Kei backed away, slowly at first. Then all at once, he scooped up his bags, plunged the weapon into it and ran off down the street.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cut this chapter off a bit earlier than I anticipated. I just felt like if I kept going it'd ruin the pacing. 
> 
> Running out of canon stuff! We have almost reached the full break point. 
> 
> Special thanks to hatakaashi for kicking me in the ass so I would finish writing this *sobs*


End file.
